Wildfire Ecology Part 3: Lighting Fires to Fight Fires

Jennifer Lance — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:02:15 +0000

I’ve lived in the mountains of far northern California for over 15 years, yet the last few summers have been filled with smoke. My property has been threatened by three wildfires in the past four years, one of which was human caused (PGE) and burned across my property. I am not a trained firefighter, but as a layman (woman) I’ve learned a lot about firefighting techniques. Of particular concern to residents is the use of burn outs: fires lit by firefighters to control fires. It seems counterintuitive to light fires while fighting them, and it is hard to see fires grow by thousands of acres due to burn outs.

There are actually two techniques of lighting fires used by the firefighters: back burning and burn outs. Back burning is a defensive technique used to protect structures. During the 2004 Sims Fire, crews back burned the meadow around our house to create blackened space where the fire would not spread. Burn outs differ from back burning, in that they are an offensive technique.

The Hell’s Half Fire, the fire that forced a mandatory evacuation on my home, has burned 15,146 acres, according to Inciweb. At least 1/3 of that acreage is from burn out operations. It is hard to see my neighborhood intentionally lit by hand crews and aerial ignition, and one can’t help but wonder if the fire would have spread as far as the burn out operations naturally. So why burn out?

Green Options » backburning

Wildfire Ecology Part 3: Lighting Fires to Fight Fires