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Prescribed fire has become a widespread management tool
over the last 40 years.
© The Nature Conservancy
Prescribed burning is the intentional setting of fire
under a rigid set of specifications to restore fire adapted forests
and/or reduce large accumulations of flammable material on the forest
floor.
Before conducting prescribed fires in New York, individual
prescribed burn plans must be completed and approved by the NYS
Department of Environmental Conservation. Each plan specifies the
prescription, or the range of acceptable fuel and weather conditions
for the burn day, that will allow burn objectives to be met while
providing for maximum safety. These burn plans also specify the
types of equipment and personnel necessary to safely conduct the
burn and provide extensive guidelines for safety contingencies,
smoke management, post-burn monitoring, and more.
Although all fires carry some degree of risk, properly
conducted prescribed burns are extremely safe. In the five year
period prior to 2001 federal government agencies carried out 31,200
prescribed burns in the US, of which only one half of one percent
burned outside of the specified boundaries. During the 12 years
prior to 2001, The Nature Conservancy conducted 3,892 prescribed
fires with an identical record of safety. Each year, prescribed
fires are ignited in all regions
of the country. In the Northeast, the majority of prescribed burns
take place in the pitch pine barrens of Massachusetts, New Jersey,
Maine, Long Island, and Albany, NY.
This picture illustrates a typical prescribed fire
operation. Prescribed fires occur within a pre-determined boundary
referred to as a burn unit. The unit is often bounded on one or
more sides by some type of natural firebreak (1 - See
image) such as a stream along which the fire can be ignited.
The firebreak is widened by creating blackline (2)—burned area
where all the fuel has been burned away. This blackline is created
by a backfire (3) which burns slowly against the wind with low intensity.
The rest of unit is surrounded by handline (4), a firebreak that
is scraped through the forest litter layer down to bare soil using
hand tools such as rakes and shovels. Once sufficient blackline
has been created, headfires—which burn in the same direction
as the wind—can be lit (5,6). When these headfires, which move
faster and burn hotter than backfires, reach the blackline they
no longer have sufficient fuel to burn and the fire is extinguished.
Crews of specially trained firefighters patrol the area throughout
the burn and put out any additional smoldering material once the
fire is out.
For more information, refer to FAQs.
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