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Prescribed Fire Questions and Answers 

What is prescribed fire?

Prescribed fire is the planned application of low-intensity fire to the landscape by fire and fuel specialists.

Why do we conduct prescribed burning?

Prescribed fire is one of the most efficient tools we use as a part of active forest management. After many years of fire exclusion, an ecosystem like ours needs periodic fire or it becomes unhealthy. Trees become stressed by overcrowding, fire-dependent plant and animal species disappear, and flammable fuels build up and become a hazardous and unwanted wildfire threat. The benefits of introducing fire back into this system include:

• Protects communities from catastrophic wildfires by reducing hazard fuel build up including dead wood, unhealthy and overcrowded trees, thick layers of pine needles and continuous brush fields.
• Gives firefighters a safer place to engage in the event of a wildfire. Treated landscape slow fire spread, giving more opportunities for firefighters to be successful in suppression operations.
• Recycles nutrients back to the soil, preparing the land for new growth and promoting its health.
• Minimizes the spread of pests, insects, and disease.
• Creates diversity needed by plants and animals, providing new forage for game and improving wildlife habitat.
• Promotes the growth of trees, wildflowers, and other plants. Many native plant and forest communities need fire for their germination and growth. Seed contact with bare soil, such as that exposed by fire, is necessary for some species to naturally regenerate.
• An efficient, cost-effective way of maintaining the integrity of hazardous fuels reduction treatments that have taken place in the past.  

What is a burn plan?

Prescribed fire specialists write a burn plan for each and every prescribed fire project. The plan identifies the best conditions for conducting prescribed fire to get the best results, safely. They also determine the resources needed for a burn such as crews, engines, equipment, etc. The plans are thorough and include information such as: the specific prescription parameters, what notifications need to be made, smoke management specifications, vegetation data, unique features and natural resources in that project area, maps, specified objectives, weather constraints, safety hazards and mitigations, and post burn activities.

A burn plan explicitly outlines the adequate weather windows when fire can safely be put on the ground to obtain the desired results. This includes temperature, humidity, wind speeds, and fuel moistures. The weather considerations that are taken into account when planning a prescribed fire not only include what the weather conditions are at the time of ignition, but also the weather leading up to the prescribed fire, as well as the weather for an extended period of time once prescribed fire operations have been completed.

Who does the burning?

All prescribed fire on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest is conducted by trained and qualified professionals who are experienced in the areas of fire behavior and fire management techniques. Every prescribed fire has a burn boss in charge of that project.

Who decides where burning happens?

All hazardous fuels reduction and vegetation management projects are planned and implemented by professional fuels specialists and foresters, accompanied by other resource specialists including botanists, archaeologists, recreation specialists, hydrologists, wildlife biologists, rangeland specialists, invasive/noxious weed specialists, etc. Prescribed burning is an important tool for forest management that is analyzed extensively in order to ensure desirable outcomes for all resource areas.

What is a burn boss?

The burn boss is in charge of the prescribed burn. They are responsible for the writing of burn plans, determining when the burn area is in prescription, obtaining smoke clearance and weather forecasts, notifying officials of the upcoming burn, obtaining all equipment and qualified personnel needed, and ensuring all operations are conducted in a safe manner for personnel and the public before, during and after a burn.

What about the smoke?

Smoke is a natural byproduct of fire and some amounts are unavoidable. However, fire managers and prescribed fire specialists look carefully at the proximity of communities and determine the least amount of smoke impact to the public. They also work closely with the local, county, and state Air Quality staff and the National Weather Service to help determine when the best days for smoke dispersal. The burn plan is also written to minimize negative impacts of smoke, especially to those with sensitivities.

It is also important to remember that smoke from a prescribed fire will be less in amount and for a much shorter duration than the dense smoke that is produced from large and uncontrolled wildfires.   
 

How do I know if smoke that I am seeing is a prescribed fire or a wildfire that I need to report?

Prescribed fire takes generally place from November to May. This page has the information of all the planned prescribed fires for 2021 and will continue to be updated. Also, be sure to follow the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest Facebook and Twitter pages for updates on prescribed fires across the forest. You may also see signs along roadways. If you still aren’t sure, feel free to call the Ranger District you are located in to inquire further.   

How is burning accomplished?

There are different types of prescribed fire applications. The primary methods used on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest are pile, understory and broadcast burning:

• Pile Burning: Hand or machine cut vegetation are stacked into piles and given time to dry out. The piles are then lit during the fall, winter and spring when conditions allow, reducing the damage to the remaining trees and confining the fire to the footprint of the pile.
• Understory Burning: Implementing a low to moderate intensity fire through an area under the forest canopy to reduce surface fuel loading such as grass, shrubs, needle cast, and small trees. This is generally used following a pretreatment such as thinning or pile burning to further reduce the understory fuel loading, maintain the desired vegetation conditions, promote regeneration of native vegetation and enhance the overall health and resiliency of the forest stand. ="font-size:>
• Broadcast Burning: Similar to understory burning, but performed in an area that has little to no forest canopy. Broadcast burning is used in areas with grass or shrubs for habitat restoration and to reduce the amount of fuel. It can be beneficial for promoting diversity of vegetation and enhancing habitats such as sage grouse and winter ranges for elk and mule deer.