Before any prescribed burn can be done, a detailed fire management plan must be developed. This rigorous process determines the acceptable conditions under which burns can be carried out. “Prescriptions” are developed for each of the areas to be burned that dictate under what weather conditions (relative humidity, wind speed and direction, air temperature, and moisture content of the vegetation) a burn can be safely managed. If weather conditions are unacceptable on the day of a planned burn, the burn will be postponed.
conducting prescribed burns
A prescribed burn will begin only when all of the criteria listed in the prescription are met and adequate personnel and equipment are present. Burns are ignited using drip torches, portable canisters used to drop small amounts of flame along the fire breaks. The fire is lit in such a way to take advantage of the current weather conditions to ensure the flames travel in a specific direction. A variety of equipment is used to control the fire, such as hand tools, backpack water pumps, and large-capacity water pumper trucks. An individual prescribed burn is almost always completed in one day, usually over a few hours. At each burn, emergency fire suppression equipment, including water pumper trucks, are available. This equipment can be used to quickly extinguish the fire if weather conditions change or if the fire threatens to escape control.Prescribed burns are typically conducted by an array of partners, all whom have been trained to ignite and suppress wildland fires.
