Use of Fire in Land Clearing Controlled Burns by Planned Application and Confinement of Fire to Preselected Wildland Area a Tool of Many Uses
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Use of Fire in Land Clearing controlled burns by planned application and confinement of fire to preselected wildland area a tool of many uses Keith Arnold, 1. T. Burchai ,Ralph 1. Fenner and R. F. Grah Controlled fire as a land clearing tool fuel, and moisture content of the fuel par- was applied to approximately 102,000 The first of jive articles reporting the ticles largely determine how the fire acres of California brushland in 1950- findings in investigations in the eflective- burns. In addition to these factors the fire and during the same time, wildfires ness, the safety and the cost of the use of in use for land clearing is subject to vari- controlled burning as a tool for land burned more than 300,000 acres of other clearing. No attempt is made to provide ations in topography, and to rapid fluc- state and private lands. one formula for prescribed burning in tuations in wind, humidity, temperature The controlled burning was done by Californie; each fire is an individual case and solar radiation. 286 landowners who invested time, labor, to be planned on the ground. The combined effects of these variables equipment hours, and money in the on fire behavior make planning and con- project. The program was sanctioned by ducting a successful controlled burn a state law and directly aided by state ap- use. Sheep and goat raisers use it to re- critical and important task. A successful propriation for standby crews. move mature foliage from trees and brush controlled burn is one which removes the The contrast between controlled fire, in order to stimulate sprout growth for undesirable vegetation, is confined to the the tool, and wildfire, the destroyer, is browse. Some landowners use controlled predetermined area, and whose cost is in intensified in California by variability in fire in a program to increase food and line with the anticipated increase in re- ownership, in soil type, and in land use. cover for wildlife. Controlled burning is turns. Controlled fire may be one step in the one of the agents used to fireproof The simplest type of controlled burn process a landowner may employ to in- upwards of 5,000 miles of California is the convenience fire where the only ele- crease the net return from his property highways each year. Fire is used on tim- ments planned are time and place of burn. while a nearby owner may consider any berlands to reduce hazardous slash and At the other extreme is the prescribed kind of burning on his lands to be harm- debris accumulations following logging. burn where fire is conducted systemati- f ul. Each of these jobs-where burning is a cally over an area at a time when weather Many uses of fire-many types and tool-requires a particular type of fire and fuel conditions produce intensities of sizes of burn-may be included under the used in a specific way. heat and rates of spread which should general heading of controlled burning, maximize expected benefits to soil and if the term is defined as the planned ap- vegetation. plication and confinement of fire to a A Complicated Tool Most controlled burns actually are preselected land area. A fire in a fireplace and a fire used to more accurately described as convenience Controlled burning is used for many clear brush from land are governed by fires rather than prescribed burns. A con- purposes in land management. Cattlemen the same fundamentals of fire behavior. venience fire may be the most expensive employ it to clear brushland for range In both cases size, distribution of the Continued on next page Left. Area in Son Benito County before any brush removal treatment. Photograph taken in 1948. Right. Same area after brush removal treatment. The brush on the slope in the left-center was burned standing; burning Conditions left islands and brush stumps have sprouted. The diagonal strip in the middle background was burned after brush was railed down with bulldozer and allowed to dry about ten months. Photograph taken in 1950. CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURE, MARCH, 1951 9 Continued from preceding page a proper balance between the three ele- nature and combination of its fuel types, way to burn an area, and only by chance ments of effectiveness, safety, and cost. prevailing local winds, topography and are results satisfactory. Such a burn may, Fire is not a consistently effective tool. natural barriers. in fact, consist of little more than confine- One day fire burns all vegetation hot and An area of several thousand acres usu- ment of wildfire within preselected bound- fast-the next day it merely creeps ally contains two or more natural burning aries. An effective and safe burn is not through the grass. units. Barriers to fire which exist between guaranteed by constructing control lines Landowners’ opinions concerning 261 these units may prevent its spread over between existing roads, gathering friends range improvement controlled burns the entire area if it is planned as a single and neighbors on a predetermined date, made in 1950 show how variable the re- controlled burn. Moreover, variations in and stringing fire around the edge of a sults may be. In 59% of these cases the soil, cover, topography, and other factors brush area. fire was effective in removing a sufficient dictate different treatments for different amount of brush cover to satisfy the land- natural burning units in order to obtain owner that his investment in time and effective burns. effort had been worth-while. Effectiveness Size alone and limitations which size of the job accomplished by fire ean be imposes on timing and location of firing measured in terms of results anticipated may preclude the possibility of a satisfac- by the landowner and does not necessarily tory controlled burn of several thousand imply a complete removal of the brush. acres. The area may be too large for con- There is a relationship between the suc- trolled fire to cover within a uniform cess of a controlled burn and the land- burning period of a night or a day. Poor owner’s experience with fire, his planning burns or escapes are the result. In other and preparation as well as the nature of cases fire may smoulder down slopes I the terrain and kind of cover. which should be subjected to a fast-run- Effectiveness On 41% of these burns landowners ning headfire. Again, fire may back were not satisfied with the amount of un- against the wind when better results Effectiveness, safety, cost-the three elements on which hinges the success or failure of con- desirable vegetation removed by fire. Fire would come from burning with the wind. trolled burning. An effective burn removes all skipped parts of many burns or did not undesirable vegetation. A safe burn limits dam- age to that accepted in advance as part of the spread from the points of initial ignition. cost of the burn. A low cost burn assumes that On other burns, grass, dead leaves, and Safety no other meons can do the same iob at lower cost and that increased returns from treatment other fine fuels were consumed without A fire confined to a fireplace can safely will equal or exceed costs. affecting the green brush and heavy fuels. provide heat but without adequate safe- Some of these poor and unsatisfactory guards, sparks from this fire can ignite In contrast, when prescribed burns are results occurred on areas where fuel or nearby rugs or furniture, or a faulty flue made, decisions-as to how, where, and topographic conditions precluded the can start a fire in the attic. In the same when the fire should be started, and the possibility of a successful burn. In other way a controlled burn conducted with location of control lines-must be based areas fuel and topographic conditions little planning, minimum effort, or with- on fire behavior under given conditions. were such that only under certain weather out reference to fire behavior may lead Weather and fuel are two conditions conditions would fire run through the to great damage. Not only does a poorly which limit the time when satisfactory brush crowns. planned burn endanger nearby proper- burns can be made. Areas which embrace more than one ties and improvements but it increases A complete plan for a prescribed burn natural burning unit rarely can be burned control costs. is based on the reason for the burn-the satisfactorily. A natural burning unit is Each year 11% to 17% of the con- purpose to which the land is to be put- an area of such size and shape that fire trolled burns for range improvement con- then soil, cover, topography and other can be directed over it in a way to remove ducted in California escape and become factors are considered. A plan for a par- the maximum amount of undesirable wildfires. A study of 46 such escapes in- ticular fire should be coordinated with Vegetation, and yet can be controlled with dicates the nature of factors which affects over-all fire plans of neighboring ranch- minimum effort; it is determined by the the safety of controlled burns. ers, and with burning plans for future years. Finally, a natural burning unit is by successful controlled burning. selected, weather condition limits within Range land cleared for seeding which the burning should be done are determined, and then the fire is set to take full advantage of land slope, natural air drafts, and convection currents. Effectiveness A successful controlled burn achieves maximum effectiveness with complete safety at lowest cost. Controlled burns are failures when insufficient vegetation is removed, or when escapes lead to ex- cessive control costs and damage, or when costs of conducting burns are greater than increased returns following them.