Fire Service Management policies have changed significantly over the years, from fire control towards more fire management techniques.
In the early part of last century (that sounds a long time ago doesn’t it?), our attitude towards fire was pretty negative, and fires which started naturally were quickly extinguished as a matter of course, in fact, it was policy that any fires which were spotted in the Yellowstone National Park should be completely dealt with before 10am the following morning.
Everything changes with the passage of time, and fire service management policies began to change in the early 1960s. It was noticed, for example, that there were no new Giant Sequoia in the forests of California, because fire was, and still is, a critical part of their life cycle. No fire, no new trees! In 1962 there was a Special Advisory Board on Wildlife Management assembled to look into the specific wildlife management problems faced in the national parks and gradually parks began to be managed as eco systems.
National Park Service
In 1968, the National Park Service amended its fire service management policies to recognize fire as an essential part of the ecological process. Effectively, fire control was to become fire management. Fires were now to be permitted to run their course, just so long as they were contained sufficiently within fire management units. Some parks established new fire use programs, and the fire service management policies were eventually implemented nationwide.
The Forest Service
The Forest Service followed on, and in 1974 had also begun to embrace a policy of fire management, rather than simply control. Lightning fires were now allowed to burn in the wilderness areas, and by 1978 they had abandoned the 10:00 am policy in favor of using ‘prescription’ fires to help to manage and maintain the balance of the landscape.
