Human involvement aside, forest fires are beneficial and essential to the long term preservation of the environment. They eradicate invasive species and plant diseases, and replenish the soil, among other favorable effects.

Factoring in logging and other causes of deforestation, however, forest fires have the potential to further diminish an area's natural habitat. In the Amazon rainforest, for example, fires are now considered a major threat, the Daily Climate reported.

An eight year study published recently tracked and analyzed the effects of fire and drought on the world's rain forests, most specifically the Amazon. It's the first to ever link fire and deforestation.

"It's only in the past couple of decades that fire has even been recognized as a major disturbance in Amazon forest," Jennifer Balch, an assistant professor of geography at Penn State University who co-led the study, told the Daily Climate."Fire scientists are catching up with a phenomenon that's happening so quickly as a result of frontier expansion and land use changes."

Combined with less rainfall in recent years, fires have contributed to significant vegetation loss in the Amazon. More open land allows for the growth of invasive, quick-burning grasses. As temperatures rise in cleared areas, their warm air spreads to wetter, tree-covered spots, compounding the effect.

"Big trees dying means more leaves on the ground and less canopy cover, and those are among the ingredients necessary for a high-intensity fire," the study's lead author, Paulo Monteiro Brando said.

Fires also contribute dangerous levels of carbon dioxide to an already vulnerable atmosphere.

"The more intense the fire, the more carbon that will be released," Brando said. "We may be missing huge amounts of carbon going into the atmosphere with these forest fires."

With drought-like conditions anticipated for at least the next few years, controlling the spread of forest fires only becomes more important. Luckily, man-created deforestation of the Amazon has declines recently, according to the Daily Climate. Other preventative measures include limiting the number of man-made fires and more effectively putting out all types.

"It's not that there is no solution," Brando said. "There's still a huge potential to manage the likelihood of these processes."