From the Chadron Record, by Joshua R. Russo
A scheduled broadcast, prescribed burn, to have been conducted by the Pine Ridge Ranger District of the Nebraska National Forest about a week ago has been postponed until at least the fall.
While the use of controlled fire has been rare in this area and is interesting for residents to watch, the planning of the burn may be just as informative.
Not all fire is destructive. Fire is a also natural tool used to keep forests healthy. Before humans inhabited the plains, large wildfires were responsible for the clearing of unhealthy trees, shrubs and grass. When such vegetation becomes crowded, for example when a group of trees grows too close together, the vegetation will compete for resources. The lack of resources, such as sunlight and water, will cause the health of the vegetation to falter which can lead to a wildfire hazard.
"People need to understand that the ecosystems here were established by fire," said Charlie Marsh, Pine Ridge District Ranger. Marsh, along with U.S. Forest Service officials in South Dakota, is responsible for monitoring the conditions for a possible burn.
Marsh said that since humans started inhabiting the plains of Nebraska, the urge has always been to put out fires. Other methods were created to clear out dead vegetation.
Modern forestry methods now include fire, mostly in forest grassland areas. Two burns are currently planned in hazardous fuels reduction projects locally because of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act. Close to 800 acres will be burned when the conditions are right. Some of the work is currently planned at Chadron State Park.
Today, Nebraska National Forest's chainsaw crews, outside commercial and non-commercial logging crews and controlled burns are now all used together to control vegetation.
The controlled burn, which comes in several intensities, is the toughest of the control methods to implement.
Jerry Schumacher, public affairs specialist with the Nebraska National Forest, said there are general time windows for the burns as set out in extensive burn plans, within forest management plans. But the exact time and application of the burn depends on many conditions that can not be determined until a week, or even days, before the burn.
"There are years we don't get to burn," Schumacher said. "There's a pretty narrow window. We haven't done a lot of burning in the Pine Ridge district in several years."
Controlled burns are a science, and sometimes there is a lot of work and time invested only to often have something as unpredictable as wind speed require postponing a burn for a span of months.
The ideal conditions for a burn usually occur in spring and fall. The conditions have to be dry within a certain range. Schumacher said that the conditions are not right in the "green-up" period between May and September. If the conditions are too dry, the workers have a hard time controlling the fire. If the ground has too much moisture, or is "too green" the fire will not spread adequately.
The typography of the land is important. Schumacher said that fire behavior varies and the burn crew has to consider such things as the slope of the land. The firefighters have to remember, for example, that fire moves faster when it travels uphill.
Nebraska National Forest prepares not only for the burn area, but also for the area around it. An area is set for a burn, and an additional amount of space around the area is set aside in case a spot fire is started outside of the original planned area. Marsh said that personnel are on hand to take care of spot fires quickly. If a fire starts past both areas, it is given immediate attention.
Also, the firefighters and burn organizers need to know boundaries. Much of the work near Chadron State Park is done in areas classified as 'wild and urban interface,' or WUI, areas. These are areas of the forest where land belongs to both private citizens and the government, or the two parties share a land agreement.
There are different sets of burn principles when working around private land. Protections such as fire lines, areas without vegetation used to stop the spread of fire, are often put near private property.
Weather is the most unpredictable of factors, and it was the reason the past burn was cancelled. The burn scheduled this spring was cancelled because forecasted winds were stronger than expected.
When considering weather, the firefighters need to know many weather variables such as the relative humidity, recent precipitation totals and wind speeds. If the wind speed is too rapid, it spreads the fire too quickly. However, Schumacher said that some wind is needed to move the fire and disperse the smoke.
"Without modern weather forecasts this would be really hard," Schumacher said. "Meteorology fits hand in glove with the science of forest management using prescribed fire."
Staffing concerns may also prevent a burn.
Marsh said that sometimes there may be a one-day window to do the burn, but it takes at least two days to assemble a crew. Marsh said that a ranger and the 'burn boss' must be able to go through a 'go, no go' checklist before going ahead with the burn. The burn boss is the supervisor who oversees the burn, under the watch of the ranger.
There are several other crews that monitor the fire. Marsh said crews monitor weather conditions, smoke, fire intensities and there is a public relations officer that talks with the public. Nebraska National Forest also coordinates with local law enforcement and works out contingency contracts with other fire departments.
Working with fire is not something taken likely; safety is the greatest concern. There are many steps taken by the Nebraska National Forest to keep the firefighters safe.
Any worker that comes anywhere close to the fire has several steps of training. Firefighters have an eight-hour fire refresher course and have to pass an annual physical. The firefighters also wear fire resistant clothing, helmets and they have to carry a portable fire shelter. The firefighters need training to use drip torches and fuzzes to light fires.
Burn bosses and other organizers are required to have additional training.
