What is prescribed fire?

What it is and what it is not

A prescribed burn has a written plan, a set of weather and moisture limits, trained crews and equipment standing by. If conditions drift outside the plan, the burn is stopped. It differs from a wildfire, which is unplanned, and from pile burning, which burns stacked slash in one spot.

Prescribed fire is one tool beside thinning, mowing and mastication, which are the mechanical ways of cutting fuel load.

Why it matters in Northern Nevada

Much of the forest and brush land around our valleys is federal, state or private land managed by agencies that use thinning and, in some places, prescribed fire to reduce fuel. Owners of homes next to that land are affected by the smoke and by the fuel work. The Forest Service and the National Interagency Fire Center publish information about the fires and the programs. See large wildfires since 1980.

The land around your own house is a different matter: it is handled by cutting and clearing.

What an arborist does about it

Battle Born does not do prescribed burning. The mechanical fuel work we do, such as masticating, brush mowing, lot clearing and removal of dead trees, is the kind of thinning that often comes before a prescribed burn and that protects a house in the meantime. See masticating and lot clearing.

If a prescribed burn is announced near you, the managing agency posts notices with dates, smoke information and contacts. Those notices, not a tree company, are the place to check timing and closures.

One practical note for neighbors: smoke from a planned burn can reach town on a still day. People with breathing problems should read the agency's notice and plan around the dates it gives.