Fiber fuse effect can occur spontaneously and propagate along optical fibers to cause widespread damage; it threatens all applications involving optical fibers. This paper presents two results. First, it establishes that the initiation of fiber fuse (IFF) in silica fibers is caused by virtual-defect-induced absorption. Critical temperatures and critical optical powers for IFF are simulated for the first time using a 3D solid-state heat transfer model with heat source generated by the virtual-defect-induced absorption. In this method, formation energies of the virtual defects can be uniquely determined, which offers critical information on the chemical reasons for fiber fuse. Second, this paper offers a method to evaluate operating temperatures of fiber lasers. General analytical solutions of the operating temperatures along gain fibers are deduced. Results of 976-nm laser-diode-pumped and 1018-nm tandem-pumped ytterbium-doped fiber (YDF) amplifiers using 10/130-μm YDFs are calculated. Potential limits caused by fiber fuse are discussed.