Community Prescribed Burn in the Applegate

In early April, KS Wild staff members were invited to a community prescribed burn located in the Applegate Valley. This burn was put together by professional wildland firefighters, curious community members, and volunteers. With fire season right around the corner, this was a great opportunity to learn how to prepare your property for wildfire. 

There is a lot that goes into planning a prescribed burn. Safe, effective prescribed burning is completely weather dependent and if too much wind or precipitation is forecasted, or if it is not a county permitted burn day, you cannot burn. All of these factors have to come into play perfectly: relative humidity, slope, aspect, type of fuels, and more. Luckily, the weather was just right to conduct a small 1.5 acre burn. 

The day started with around 20 interested community members gathered around for a brief explanation of the details of the operation, how it is going to be conducted, and how people can participate in the burn. Though the prescribed burn was small, it was treated like a larger project. Leaders of the burn developed a burn plan, which includes a qualified 'Burn Boss’ who conducted the operation. There were multiple fire engines, and more staff than would be required by the Oregon Department of Forestry.  Keeping the project small enabled the community to get a feel for how a burn is conducted while leaving plenty of time to answer questions and discuss the process. 

The burn took around 1 hour to complete the 1.5 acres. Volunteers learned how to use a drip torch, maintain a small burn, and create small fuel breaks. Some crew members remained on site to let the fire die down and make sure it was safe to leave. Many people left with a better understanding of prescribed burning, and experienced working together as a community to accomplish good work on the land.

This community prescribed burn was initiated because of the growing desire for the Applegate area to develop a Prescribed Burn Association (PBA). A PBA is a group of local landowners and other concerned citizens that form a partnership to conduct prescribed burns. PBAs have successfully increased prescribed fire use by landowners and land managers, mainly by making it easier and safer to use prescribed fire. This is a ‘neighbors helping neighbors’ model making this work more affordable by people volunteering their time, skills, and equipment.