Inside a Prescribed Burn

Have you ever wondered what goes into planning and executing a prescribed burning project? Join a fire monitoring crew inside a recent burn in the Butte County foothills, near Chico, California.
The Terra Fuego Resource Foundation, from Chico, wrote the burn plan and provided burn boss. Deer Creek Resources and the Butte County RCD developed the original project layout for the Butte County Firesafe Council, under funding from the Sierra Nevada Conservancy. On burn day, Firestorm Wildland Fire provided engines, a fire crew and Burn Boss trainee. The CSU, Chico Ecological Reserves provided a fire engine and crew members. The Watershed Center, from Hayfork, provided a fire engine and two-person crew, under 'all hands all lands' burn crew funding from Cal Fire. The landowner, Higgins Ridge, LLC, paid for most of the contracted labor and equipment, and provided contingency resources and fire-qualified staff to help with the burn.
This Lookout video project was supported by Deer Creek Resources. I worked the burn as a fire effects monitor and trainer. My wife and I started DCR in 2011 to do consulting and mapping work around wildfire, water, and forestry issues, and I still work for them on planning and prescribed fire work. If you'd like to learn more about the company, or hire us to help you improve the wildfire resilience of your community, visit deercreekgis.com.

[@jamesmckay9966]

WHAT AN OUT STANDING VIDEO/ WE NEED MORE EDUCATIONAL VIDEOS LIKE THIS.

[@cris_miko]

Very interesting I learned a lot about this process. Interns enthusiasm is very encouraging. Thank you for sharing this!

[@TheLookout1]

Yes, it's great working with the youngsters out there!

[@Mis-AdventureCH]

Cool episode!

[@daustin4087]

Great information. This is a nice picture of what a prescribed burn is and how it works. I can see why you favor prescribed burning. Need more of it. Thanks for the video.

[@ElectricDanielBoone]

Great work out there in the woods Zeke! Much, much more of that type of burning needs to be done. Up here I southern oregon the USFS seems to take a different approach and does mechanical thinning and limbing, then piles all that material up to burn it. They were doing that in November, but I think they're snowed out now, as they were doing all of their work in the high cascades. I've been up doing my "gorilla" thinning and can sure see how your 'burn first' approach would get many times more acreage treated. It's just incredible the amount of material the woods can produce in a small area. We'll make only a tiny dent in what needs to get done if we have to put a saw on, then haul all that material to burn piles. As I'm sure you are aware, sawing, hauling and piling will flat wear people out in a hurry too. No burning for me (accept in piles I make), but I'll continue my little stealthy thinning project. I like to think I might be making a little refuge for some poor firefighters getting chased by a fire. At the very least they'll have a pretty clear path to move through the woods quickly. I'll be up there working this weekend, snow or no snow.

[@brianprince2587]

Live updates on the maps and strategy of the fire was really helpful and enlightening! Overall, awesome video!

[@lynneanilsonthibodaux9220]

I saw this thanks to our WSU extension forestry professor, Andy Perleberg, sharing it on his Fb page. We own and live in firewised forestland here in central WA with lots of Ponderosa pine and Doug fir. I am so happy to see more prescribed burning in our area as well. Among many other things, your video was great in showing the team was able to pivot quickly from the original plan and move to a different area. Thanks for your Olivia and Brian interviews; plus I learned a new word: Dendrology! At a seminar a few years ago in Oregon, I was introduced to the subject of biochar. It’s so interesting. I want to follow up…

[@jjxtwo1]

Excellent video! I would feel a lot better about wildfire now if I lived in Forest Ranch. Like you said that 'fire is the best teacher', for people who are unsure about or even opposed to prescribed fire seeing it in video is a great teacher. The video spreads knowledge about what's possible to accomplish with prescribed fire and helps normalize our necessary use of fire. I hope that more coverage of prescribed fires will be something more people can make available. With narrative or subtitles or whatever format works, for the unsure folks to see this happening can have a big impact. I know that I'm preaching to the choir here, lol, but just trying to be supportive. Thanks for your work.

[@taofledermaus]

That was really cool! Very informative.

[@saragreensfelder379]

Great video, and I'm sharing it with fellow burners. We definitely need to do more burning with less prep, but obviously it takes a lot of resources to do so. I live on the north side of the South Yuba River canyon (that you've tagged a number of times this year as an area ripe to burn in a big way). I sure wish we had the expertise and resources to do some larger burns in the canyon, which is a mix of private, BLM and state parks lands. Meanwhile, we do what we can with what we have.

[@vickielewis3848]

Afternoon Zeke Erika kids. Great Video today. I love watching this activity. Wise work being done. Learn and teach. This is the future of forest management. Imagine a future where establishing catcher's mits is a part of PRE PLANNING for communities being established in the interface.🔜🇺🇲👊

[@whiskeylima4006]

Excellent information and footage👍. Few months ago I got to participate in a s-212 course through firestorm with Dan and Kieth, awesome guys can’t wait for s-290 in the spring.

[@MrWolfriver]

Thanks Z! That was a terrific and very informative video.

[@seancurry2863]

Really interesting. Thanks Zeke!

[@roblangsdorf8758]

Could you comment on burning brush piles that are in large clearings. Can they be burned on days when others fires shouldn't be set?

[@richardburguillos3118]

Amazing and educational. Thanks! We have been to Yosemite a number of times this year with the last trip mid November. They have been burning in the valley for a long time now. Do you have any access to what their plans are, how they have been doing etc. it’s amazing we can actually hike through the areas and see the burned areas, flames and smoke. It’s truly amazing how none of the trees are burned during these activities. Thanks for the great lessons.

[@TheLookout1]

I don't have direct access to their plans, but there have been quite a few scientific papers written about their fire program. Google 'Jan Van Wagtendonk'

[@richardburguillos3118]

@@TheLookout1 I’m still reading… Jan van Wagtendonk was quite a man. Passed away this July 2022. What a life history. Still reading… sure loved Yosemite.

[@DanDanRobotMan]

A super useful video. Thank you. Can you talk a little about how to put it out at the end? I'm assuming the top has fully burned itself out because it was against a road. What keeps the bottom from spreading?

[@TheLookout1]

All the sides of the burn unit were roads. We extinguished smouldering fuels close to the roads and let things in the interior of the unit burn down on their own. Mop-up standards are part of the burn plan. Sometimes, the regulating agency wants more mopup done, but in fall, rainstorms can do a lot of the work.

[@thehatchetman670]

1 year later, that entire area, 386k acres and counting have burned in the Park Fire thanks to some idiot pushing a burning car down an embankment.