Single Publication

How do fire managers decide when to burn? 

• For a burn to be implemented it must meet the ‘prescription’ established during the planning process.   
• Ahead of a burn, significant planning is done to identify appropriate conditions for the prescribed burn to achieve the desired objectives, minimize the risk of escape, and limit the negative impacts from smoke.

How do fire managers manage a prescribed burn? 

• Fire managers take advantage of existing fire breaks like roads, trails, rocky areas, or if need be, create new control features by thinning trees and/or digging fireline to create a fire break. This helps fire managers safely keep the prescribed fire within its designated area.
• Sometimes snow will be used as a control feature on the Forsythe II prescribed burn. The project’s burn units are oriented so that there is an opportunity to burn south-facing slopes when north-facing slopes are still covered in snow. The north-facing slopes will keep snow longer into the spring, providing a lower-risk opportunity to burn due to the moisture covering the fuels. 
• Fire managers staff the fire until it is deemed secure and patrol the prescribed fire until it is declared out.  

How do you manage smoke during a prescribed fire? 

• All prescribed burns must comply with local air quality regulations to minimize impacts to communities. 
• Smoke will be in the air during a prescribed burn, but fire managers work closely with experts to minimize the impacts to the extent possible. 
• We aim for a time when seeing smoke in the air is not a cause for safety concern, but a time when we recognize important forest restoration work is getting done. 
• Air quality is carefully monitored before and during a prescribed fire.
• Unlike a wildfire, fire managers can manage when a prescribed fire starts, choosing the best weather conditions and giving smoke sensitive residents the chance to plan around those impacts.  

What Ignition pattern will be used?  

• Due to the steep incline on much of the burn area, a common ignition pattern that the USFS plans to use will be to start from the top and take the fire down and across the slope.  

How will the burn be patrolled and monitored? 

• Residents should expect to see patrols around the perimeter of the unit during and after the burn.  
• Patrols identify and mitigate areas that could create potential control issues.  
• The Forest Service also has remote cameras that they might use to assist with monitoring.  
• The Prescribed burn plan has procedures and conditions identified that will be used to determine how monitoring and patrolling occurs based on conditions on the ground.  

What are the components of a burn plan? 

• The project decision determines the unit design and layout of the burn plan.  
• The burn plan also includes a complexity analysis, which is when the line officer goes through the burn plan to identify risks and the overall complexity rating of the project.   
• After the completion of fire prescription modeling and assessments, another burn boss will perform a technical review of the burn plan to ensure that it follows the National Wildfire Coordination Group (NWCG) guidelines.

What are the possible constraints to burning? 

• Burn parameters include wind speeds and fine dead fuel moisture content, which incorporate the effects of aspect, temperature, and relative humidity on the amount of moisture within dead fuels.  
• The Prescribed Burn Approval Act of 2016 limits burning on federal land if, for the county or contiguous county in which such land is located, the national fire danger rating system is indicating an extreme fire danger level.

What happens when things do not go as planned? 

• The burn plan has identified contingency resources through cooperating agencies in the area including, federal, state, county, and FPD resources that will be able to respond to the burn area within 30 minutes.  
• On occasion, embers fall outside of the control perimeter and start small fires.  This is anticipated during every broadcast burn and a response plan is in place to quickly extinguish these “slop-overs”. 
• In very rare cases, If a slop-over is not extinguished and it becomes an escape, a wildfire may be declared. The public will then be notified by the county sheriff who would be responsible for activating any sort of evacuation notification for residents.  

How do I get updated information about the burn?

• There will be a press release notifying the public of the planned ignition several days before the burn window approaches. This will be posted on www.fs.usda.gov/arp, InciWeb, Twitter, and Facebook.
• For the latest updates on when and where burning will occur, residents should follow the USFS on Twitter and Facebook @usfsarp.  
• For those who would like to receive email updates from the USFS, sign up via Constant Contact or email ARPFireInfo@usda.gov.  

How many days will the prescribed burn take?  

• It depends on the unit size, weather, and resource availability. If there are lighter fuels (e.g., grass) in the unit, it is possible that the USFS could complete an individual unit in one day. Ultimately, the Forest Service intends to burn when the conditions are right. Ending the burn as early as possible during the day can mitigate the amount of smoke that reaches residents, too.   

Will access routes created by the burn be closed and obliterated to avoid fragmentation after the burn for recreation? 

• As soon as the burn is implemented, the Forest Service works to restore the area. The burn plan was designed so that it would use as many of the natural features as possible.  

 Will you be creating control lines by hand or via bulldozers? 

• Control lines will be created by hand. 

What if the conditions change (i.e., increased wind) during the burn? 

• If conditions change during ignitions and are no longer within the prescribed parameters of the burn plan, the burn boss will take appropriate action as identified in the burn plan to secure the burn until it is within prescribed parameters. Typically, prescribed burn parameters include wind speed, relative humidity, temperature, and probability of ignition. 

How are you protecting [leave] trees within the burn perimeter? 

• If a particular tree(s) is pre-identified to be protected within the perimeter, firefighters may use a variety of tactics that may include one or several of the following: reducing adjacent fuels, establishing control lines, specific firing patterns, or monitoring with holding resources. 

Who will be helping with the burn, which cooperators?

• Depending on the burn window Boulder County Sheriffs’ Office Fire Management personnel and other Fire Departments and cooperating agencies may also assist. All nearby fire departments will be aware and notified as well as the Boulder County Sheriff.   

Will the area be closed to use during burning?

• Yes, there will be an area closure in place.