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Wind Direction
Wildland FireEngine
Igniter
Blackline 8 0 0
Headfire 2 N M
Backfire U T
Natural Firebreak U A / / Y C N A V R E S N O
Handline PerimeterFirebreak C D R E O R F Flank Fire N U A T S A E V N E T S ©
THE ABC S OF A CONTROLLED BURN A burn boss’s first priority is to conduct a safe burn, which requires long hours of preparation. Wind speed and direction , humidity and a host of other factors must meet safety requirements before a burn can begin. After establishing a perimeter of natural and hand-cleared firebreaks devoid of fuel, the crew will light a downwind backfire , which burns slowly as it moves into the wind. As the backfire burns away fuels, it cre - ates a blackline. The crew patrols the firebreak perpendicular to the backfire, establishing a handline, where an igniter will use a drip torch to set a flank fire to clear fuels along the handline. When the flank fire has burned away enough fuel, an igniter will set the headfire along the windward firebreak. Fueled by the wind, the headfire typically burns quickly, but extinguishes itself by burning straight into the backfire.
smell of the fuel in the drip torches carries in the slight way to play with matches. Since it first opened its doors, the breeze. A carload of tourists visiting Big Cypress drives by, training center has accommodated more than 1,200 stu - S W
F craning their necks. Thunderheads promise drum music dents from federal and state agencies, tribal governments S U /
R later, but they are far to the east. The weather report had and nonprofit groups like The Nature Conservancy. O N
N said it was a good day to burn. All of these organizations understand the critical role O C ’
O “Let’s light her up,” Sheppard says. fire plays in natural systems. Many grasslands and forests H S O
J And the flames whoosh. throughout the United States have evolved together with © :
5 fire, and they rely on it, to one degree or another, just like 3 - 4 3 they rely on rain or sunshine. Think of fire as a gardener: S E
G SMOLDERING Crisis A pruning and thinning choked forests, clearing bushes so P . D
R Welcome to a typical day at the National Interagency Pre - prairie grasses can thrive, restoring nutrients to the soil, 37 O F N
A scribed Fire Training Center, a 10-year-old institution that clearing habitat for fire-adapted species like the red-cock - S E V
E keeps offices in Tallahassee but does its real teaching in the aded woodpecker or quaking aspen. T S
© forests, swamps and savannas of Florida and four other Despite the benefits, wildfire is scary—it’s a serious : N O
I Southeastern states. The fire school, as some call the train - threat to homes, businesses, health and life. T A R
T ing center, attracts fire crews and land managers from Our national distrust of wildfires was cemented into S U L L
I around the nation and the world and shows them the right policy around 1910, after several “megafires” charred