DENVER—The Colorado State Forest Service says the 6-square-mile fire near Conifer apparently started when embers from a controlled burn conducted last week were blown across a containment line by high wind gusts. An official investigation is pending.
The Denver area has had one of the warmest, driest months of March on record. This has bought up questions about why a prescribed burn was allowed in these weather conditions. What are the protocols that allow prescribed fires and how are they conducted?
Q: What is a prescribed fire?
A: Prescribed fires are heavily monitored fires set intentionally in a contained area. The procedure is widely recognized as a good way to lower the risk of wildfires by removing an overabundance of vegetation, grass, brush or thick trees. It’s also a way to enhance landscapes and help ecosystems.
Q: What are standard protocols?
Prescribed fires are planned and prepared months in advance of the fire date. A plan involves consultation between fire managers and advisers who specialize in areas such as wildlife and air quality. Advisers consider why a fire should be lit, what risks may be present, topography and weather conditions. A checklist is used to help determine whether a fire is a go or not.
Several tools are used to set the fire. The most common is a drip torch, a silver canister that pours burning fuel over a certain area of vegetation, grass or timber. Another tool called aerial ignition ejects a Ping-Pong ball-like object from a helicopter, which ignites fuel on the ground.
Fire managers closely monitor the fire until it is determined to be cold, meaning coals are no longer at risk for reigniting. The National Park Service states that since fire and weather can be unpredictable, fire escapes can occur. When escapes occur, crews work to extinguish the fire immediately, calling on outside help to put the fire out if needed.
Prescribed burns can last from hours to weeks depending on treatment and weather conditions.
Q: How often are prescribed fires used?
A: According to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, more than 8,500 prescribed fires were conducted in 2011, burning more than 2 million acres. The National Park Service began conducting prescribed fires in 1958, after a particularly bad drought made Everglades National Park in Florida vulnerable to wildfires.
Q: How often do these fires go out of control?
A: The center says less than 1 percent of prescribed fires conducted on federal land escape containment lines. Between 2003 and 2006, California saw at least 30 prescribed burns escape, which accounted for roughly half of all such fires in the country, according to U.S. Forest Service data. One of the worst cases was in New Mexico in 2000. A prescribed burn in Bandelier National Monument, west of Los Alamos, N.M., blew out of control, and all of Los Alamos was evacuated. More than 400 families lost their homes.
