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Putting fire on the ground

Image shows a firefighter squatting down applying prescribed fire while several other firefighters look on in a forest setting.
Fire personnel monitor the Crystal Reservoir prescribed fire near Colorado Springs, Colorado, on May 16, 2025. (Forest Service photo by Josh Cowden) In places like the Pike-San Isabel National Forests across the country, fire has shaped the land for thousands of years. Many forests depend on…
#PrescribedFire, #Fire, #ControlledBurn, #FirePrevention, #WildfirePrevention, #WildfireRiskReduction, #PikeNationalForest

Post-wildfire restoration in the 2018 Camp Fire area on the Plumas National Forest

A pile of ashes is left after a prescribed burn.
Editor’s note: Across the West, land managers are working together to accomplish what they cannot do alone — to restore massive areas affected by past wildfire while also strategically planning how to best suppress the next.Forest Service firefighter James Lico, and Julia Sidman, a forestry program manager for the Butte County Resource Conservation District talk about the work that's needed to…
#Campfire, #PrescribedFire, #ControlledBurn, #PileBurning, #Wildfire, #WildfireRiskReduction, #WildfireCrisis, #Fire, #PlumasNationalForest

Prescribed fire boosts community safety & forest health

Image shows a wildland firefighter in safety gear and helmet dripping fire onto vegetation to continue a prescribed fire.
USDA Forest Service’s Michael Moranda uses a drip torch to light an underbrush fire during a prescribed fire operation in the Weaverville Community Forest. (USDA Forest Service photo by Bob Doucette)  On the lower slopes of Jackass Ridge, smoke wafted through an oak woodland canopy, its…
#PrescribedFire, #Fire, #Wildfire, #ControlledBurn, #Safety, #Firefighters, #WildlandFire

Saving historic Mount Wilson and crucial communications from Eaton Fire

Image shows three wildland firefighters on a ridgeline with the sun setting behind them and the sky is orange with smoke from the Eaton wildfire.
The Mount Wilson Observatory and communications equipment at the summit of Mount Wilson were protected both by actions taken by firefighters during the Eaton Fire and treatments applied months before the fire. (USDA Forest Service video by Andrew Avitt)At just under 6,000 feet, the Mount Wilson Observatory and communication site sit within the San Gabriel Mountains of the Angeles National Forest…
#PrescribedFire, #WildlandFirefighters, #HazardousFuels, #FuelReduction, #WildlandFire

A “typical” day as a burn boss (if there is one)

Image shows a man in a baseball cap pointing to a map of a prescribed fire plan.
Prescribed Fire Burn Boss Cory Carlson discusses the plan for the Goldwater Prescribed Fire Project with Prescott National Forest Hotshot crew members. (USDA Forest Service photo by Ansgar Mitchell) It’s 8 a.m.Cory Carlson is onsite and ready to start his workday as a district fire management…
#PrescribedFire, #ControlledBurn, #Firefighters, #WildlandFirefighting, #WildfirePrevention

Prescribed fire helps make wildfire response safer and easier

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Prescribed fires reduce the amount of hazardous fuels such as leaf litter and fallen trees on the forest floor, lowering a wildfire’s intensity and reducing risks to firefighters and communities. The Southern Region’s fire management professionals conduct prescribed burns on more than 1 million acres per…
#Mitigation, #PrescribedFire