Last Tuesday, the U.S. Forest Service halted all its prescribed burns in California right as the wet season was set to begin.
Citing the need to keep as many staff members and firefighting equipment on hand in the event a large wildfire starts, the forest service — which manages about 338,200 acres of land in Humboldt County — stopped all prescribed fires, but that doesn’t stop other agencies like Cal Fire and the Bureau of Land Management from conducting their own controlled burns.
“Much of region, as well as the entire western United States, is not seeing a moderation of fuel and weather conditions,” Adrianne Rubiaco, a spokesperson with the forest service said via email. “In fact, we are still prioritizing suppression fires at this time. Current weather patterns show warm and dry weather conditions in an anomalously dry October alone.”
Prescribed burns are typically done in the fall, early winter months and early spring when firefighters can take advantage of damp weather in many parts of the state — including relatively rainy Humboldt County — and avoid accidental fire spread. The forest service canceled all prescribed burns, despite now being the optimal time to begin burning, because of concerns over regional deployments across the Western United States beyond California in the event of a fire.
Forest management agencies across the country have been adopting prescribed burning as a tool to get rid of ladder fuels and ease the inevitable damage a wildfire will create. In Humboldt County, the Bureau of Land Management and Cal Fire will continue prescribed burns, said Jeff Fontana, a BLM spokesperson.
“We have several objectives, and each burn has its own kind of objectives. A lot of these have to do with improving forest health by reducing heavy undergrowth, heavy understory, to improve vegetative diversity. A lot of these have to do with reducing hazardous fuel loading to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire,” Fontana said.
Fontana did not comment on the Forest Service’s decision, noting he wasn’t privy to the discussions leading to their halting of prescribed burns. The BLM manages 86,200 acres of land in Humboldt County.
The BLM in Humboldt County will conduct several prescribed burns in the coming weeks. Northeast of Arcata, crews with Calfire assistance will burn piles of fuels over 700 acres. In the King Range, crews are set to burn fuel piles on Paradise Ridge between Shelter Cove and Whitethorn. Also in Southern Humboldt County, the BLM will burn fuel piles on Prosper Ridge and Thatcher Ridge.
“Our national response capability is under significant strain for this time of year. Many of our resources are currently deployed in emergency response outside the Region (for both fire and all-hazard incidents), leading to a depletion of resources both within and outside the Region. The potential for an escaped fire, given the current unpredictable weather across the region, is a serious concern,” Rubiaco said.
Jackson Guilfoil can be reached at 707-441-0506.
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