When conditions seem favorable those piles of wood will be burned in order to reduce the fuel load in the forest. The hope is that will reduce the chances of a high intensity wildfire.
It doesn’t always work. Our 2022 fire was caused by a prescribed burn in winter.
A prescribed burn by the USFS had taken place in the area and several debris piles left by logging activity had been ignited in January and February of 2022. The piles were monitored occasionally following the initial prescribed burn and some of the piles in the ignition area retained heat as late as April 20, 2022. Fire crews would create berms around hot piles and spread the ashes to allow the heat to escape. The red flag event led to the spread of hot ash and embers from the burn piles, igniting the fire.
—- Wikipedia
More pictures are here in this Flickr album.
Fingers crossed they’ve learned something since then.
August 21, 2024
…fire can be a menace or a management tool.
Yes. It’s a natural part of the ecosystem.
this is crazy and amazing at the same time. the photo from yesterday, is that close to your mountain now? or from the past. I had no idea how they did this, and have heard it mentioned on TV before.
The photos were taken Sunday on the way to our land.
Even the idea managed burns scare me…I
They are scary!
I understand now.
God bless.
🙂
Remembering Cerro Grande, I get a chill just hearing the words, “Prescribed burn.”
Fingers crossed!
Yes!
Oh dear, seems like the cure was worse than the cold, so to speak. I hope that doesn’t happen again. I am worried about our woods this fall. It is so dry already we are afraid to use our firepit. And autumn is usually our dry season. Scary to contemplate going into it already parched.
Yes, no open fires. 🙂
I would not have thought. We’ve had smoke coming from Canadian wild fires last year and this. Last year was bad.
I know. And there are still a lot of trees to burn. 🙁
Interesting
Who would have guessed Smokey Bear’s policy was a bad decision in the long run.
Yes, I hope they have learned something since that fire.
🙂
That is astonishing that the fires you had there came from efforts to prevent fires. That’s rather mind blowing
Yes. It’s uncharted territory and a big problem. Unfortunately mistakes are part of the learning process.
I never would have guessed!!
🙂
Wy not gather all that wood up and move it to where they could burn it more safely? Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.
They also have to burn the undergrowth and thin the live trees.
We knew you would have the answer for us. Hopefully this burn will go more smoothly.
We have trouble commenting on blogs too from the iPad. Thanks for reading despite the issue.
Thanks. 🙂
Me too, I hope they learn to control better going forward!
🙂
Fingers crossed, indeed!
🙂
there have been cases here of the “burn off” failing to work – mostly in the drier in summer south island …. also something about the “controlled” getting out of hand and going rogue ….
Unfortunately it happens. It’s hard.