Day 261
I love education. I also like to stretch myself outside my comfort zone so I signed up to learn about prescribed burns. I figured this could be a potential process that is used in our farm’s restoration sometime so it doesn't hurt to get educated.
Besides learning specifics about the process of planning and implementing a burn, I added to my restoration vocabulary. I now know a little more about different fire types including back, flank, head, drop, and spot fires. I better understand how to use a burn break and can’t wait to use a drip torch, kestrel, and firefighting pump, as long as there is refugia available to the animals who call the land home. I better understand the roles different people play in a burn whether they are the burn boss or a member of the crew. Maybe one day I will be a waterer, flapper, igniter, or sentry. Of course, I’ll have to be an apprentice first. I also learned of some new acronyms. The class was hosted at the UEC through the TPE and often referenced the NWCG and the importance of LCES. In other words, I went to the Urban Ecology Center to attend a prescribed burn class hosted by The Prairie Enthusiasts organization. Once there, I learned about how the National Wildfire Coordinating Group recommends the importance of safety using a Lookout, Communication, Escape Route, and Safety Zones.
It was a very interesting experience. The instructors repeatedly mentioned how the ideal burn would use no water. We discussed in detail the Fire Triangle of fuel, heat, and oxygen and learned different strategies of how to accomplish a burn. I enjoyed watching videos of burn in action and couldn’t help but visualize this type of process in our big backyard.
Similar to our herbicide treatments, selective mowings, and weed eradication, a burn needed the right conditions to be most effective. Whether it be wind direction, wind speed, relative humidity, and ground moisture levels, a prescribed burn is all about timing.
I look forward to turning this knowledge into action by volunteering at some burns and eventually beginning the process of planning and implementing a burn in our own backyard.
