Wildfires in Chaparral Occur with amazing regularity and consume a tremendous amount of fuel. Published figures indicate that the average fire in chamise consumes between 15 and 25 tons of fuel. However, only temporary changes in vegetation occur as a result of the fire; the resprouting habit of most chaparral species insures that there will be abundant fuel for the next fire. The relatively small changes in vegetation consist primarily of dramatic but short-duration increases in annual species.