A Palestinian youth throws rubber tyres over a fire during a protest in Gaza on July 26, 2023. (Photo by Saher Alghorra/Zuma Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Ukrainian servicemen of the 28th Separate Mechanised Brigade fires a 122mm mortar towards Russian positions at the front line, near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Sunday, March 3, 2024. (Photo by Efrem Lukatsky/AP Photo)

Fire and smoke erupt from a building just after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern Shayah neighbourhood on November 22, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by AFP Photo/Stringer)

A wildfire on the Scottish island in the first decade of April 2025. Fire services are calling on people to act responsibly after an “extreme” wildfire warning was issued for the whole of Scotland. (Photo by Police Scotland/PA Wire)

Portuguese firefighters and Spanish military personnel work together to battle a forest fire in the parish of Bouses, Oimbra, Ourense, Galicia, Spain on August 18, 2025. (Photo by Pedro Pascual/Anadolu Agency)

Ukrainian territorial defence soldiers from the Donetsk Oblast fire D-20 artillery in the direction of Toretsk, Ukraine, 24 July 2025. (Photo by Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu via Getty Images)

We are all drawn to fire, entranced by its beauty and ferociousness. Its brilliance draws us in like moths to a candle flame. Thus, many of the celebrations that humans have involve lighting fires. They can be big or small; there could be many little lights or one giant inferno; they may float on water, burn on land, or rise high into the skies. Loi Krathong is a festival that is held each year in Thailand and a number of other places. During this festival thousands of little fires are lighted, presenting a marvelous sight for all the onlookers. It is believed that this tradition is an adaptation of Brahmanical festival, which was adopted by Thai Buddhists to honor Buddha.

A Fulton Hotshot lights a controlled burn on the so-called “Rough Fire” in the Sequoia National Forest, California, August 21, 2015. In California, suffering its worst drought on record, about 2,500 people were forced to flee Christian camps east of Fresno at Hume Lake as the so-called Rough Fire crossed Highway 180, officials said. (Photo by Max Whittaker/Reuters)