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[Max White]

Hi all!
So today I started at a new location, great one in the middle of the forest with everything a dwarf could wish for. I start digging into the earth and get production up. After a while things are going great, but after making so many bins and barrels I start running low on wood.

So I head to the surface, and suddenly my entire forest has turned to ash! Must have been some sort of fire (Shame I wasn't above ground to see it!) and I'm left wondering how? All my dwarves were below ground so couldn't have done anything, and I don't think there is any environment with ash as a seasonal change.

[Spectre]

Are you sure the trees are ash too?
Grass burns in wildfires if it gets in touch with magma or a fire imp's fireball (or something simillar)
but trees dont burn even if you dump magma on them.
Or are you using any mods?

[Max White]

Nope, the trees are all well and good, but you can guess I was surprised to see what had become of all my green grass! Must have been a fire imp then as there is a visible lava vent here. I will have to remember that can happen and watch out for it next time I embark at a similar location.

Is there any downside to a burnt waste land? Or does it just make my hunters easier to notice on the gray ground.

[ungulateman]

Nope. Trees and shrubs won't grow back for a little while, but it does give you a firebreak until the grass regrows.

[Max White]

So what your saying is that the main advantage to there being a fire is that I won't get another fire in a while...Sort of redundant, but gives me an idea for THE MOST AWESOME TRAP OF ALL TIME!!! People like to brag about there cute little lava traps, I think setting the entire landscape on fire would be more effective.

[Repulsion]

 Open lava vents are things you gotta watch out for. Take it from a guy who has embarked on 10+ areas with open magma vents. (I use the Dig Dwarfier mod, in advance.) Always routinely check that magma pipe/pool and set a restricted zone around it. Fire imps like to come upwards sometimes, and when they see an animal or one of your dwarves they fire a fire ball which, if your place is grassy enough, can start a raging wild fire. Rivers and brooks provide a border, but not murky pools since the fire can just surround it. If you embark on an area with an open magma vent and a river/brook, it might be beneficial to start your fortress behind the river/brook. And then there are the fire golems and magma golems (Fire and Magma golems are just Fire and Magma men but with the men/man changed to golem. It comes from the Dig Dwarfier mod) which can really mess up your day. Fire imps have a fireball, Fire golems have fire breath that can sometimes reach to over 10 blocks away. Now... the magma men... only had one of those once... kinda like the SOF's nephew. One of them set fire to my whole fort. My wrestlers were ashes blowing in the wind. But hey, they are kinda rare and only reside in the lower layers of the magma pipe, and they rarely come up to the surface.

[Spectre]

I did a mistake in my earlier post.
Magma wont set your grass on fire I belive.
Thus people come up with all sorts of stuff to make a wildfire cannon.
Check out this thread: http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=50037.0

[Hyndis]

The landscape will regrow eventually. Trees are also immune to fire and even magma, strangely enough. They are completely invincible except to woodcutters.

So far as I know the only thing that can set it on fire is a fire imp's fireball. Its hot enough to start fire, but not too hot that it instantly vaporizes the grass, which prevents it from burning.

[Akura]

They are completely invincible except to woodcutters.

And ballista bolts.

[gtmattz]

They are completely invincible except to woodcutters.

And ballista bolts.

And collapses, which cause the tree to cease to exist completely.

[Grakelin]

So what your saying is that the main advantage to there being a fire is that I won't get another fire in a while...Sort of redundant, but gives me an idea for THE MOST AWESOME TRAP OF ALL TIME!!! People like to brag about there cute little lava traps, I think setting the entire landscape on fire would be more effective.

This is the hubris that destroyed Boatmurdered.

[Spectre]

So what your saying is that the main advantage to there being a fire is that I won't get another fire in a while...Sort of redundant, but gives me an idea for THE MOST AWESOME TRAP OF ALL TIME!!! People like to brag about there cute little lava traps, I think setting the entire landscape on fire would be more effective.

This is the hubris that destroyed Boatmurdered.

So you are bound to do it yourself.

[Malicus]

I assume you have some sort of exposed lava?  If so, then I'm going to place my bet on a fire imp throwing a fireball at some wildlife (or maybe a kobold) and setting your forest ablaze.

[gtmattz]

So far as I know the only thing that can set it on fire is a fire imp's fireball. Its hot enough to start fire, but not too hot that it instantly vaporizes the grass, which prevents it from burning.

This is what I thought as well, until a couple days ago on my latest 'magma moat' map.  I had a nifty little magma fall from the upper level of my moat which dropped magma into a pool above the magma pipe with a 1 tile drain to let the magma back into the pipe.  It worked great for a while but when I was working on something deep underground I started getting horrible lag so I paused and started looking around.  Went to ground level to see fire spreading across the map.  I had already trapped/killed all the creatures in the pipe so an imp could not have caused the fires so I am still a little baffled.  The only 'good' thing to come of the fire was that it burned up the main axle which was powering all of the pumps so it stopped the magma from flooding 

[Max White]

Well I shall be more careful then this Boatmurdered guy, I will put coal out at random strategic locations to ensure maximum burnage! Combine this with the annual woodcutting, hunting and plant gathering festival and I think we have a winner!