What is Fire Management? It’s all sorts of things, here are a few of the methods of fire management most commonly used today.
“It spread like wild fire!” we’ve all heard that right, well that’s right, and one thing that spreads like wild fire is wild fire, and fire management sometimes lets it spread like wild fire, and sometimes it doesn’t! That’s where the management bit comes in, clever huh!
When you try to figure out what is fire management, then you realize that there are loads of different techniques which have become fashionable over the years, some have been used for centuries by natives as a means of clearing away old vegetation, and making way for the new. Here’s just a few of the different methods of fire management, and how they work!
Let it Burn
Historically, fire was seen as something pretty negative, but then some of these educated types have realized that fire has been used for thousands of years as a positive way to manage the ecosystem, so now this is practiced in many places. After years of not ‘letting it burn’ forests can become overgrown and unhealthy, but a naturally occurring fire allows the forest to be thinned, opens up the canopy and allows the sunlight to filter through. It also reduces the dead wood and debris, allowing new plants to sprout and grow. In many places now naturally occurring fires are allowed to burn, as long as they don’t pose a risk to people or places.
Light it
Sometimes staff actually light fires themselves under pre-determined conditions. These fulfill the same role as the naturally occurring fires, when naturally they don’t occur!
Get the Choppers Out
Okay, it’s called mechanical thinning really, but that wouldn’t catch much attention now would it! By using choppers (and chainsaws) to remove small trees and brush, it helps to prevent unwanted fire and makes it a lot safer for the fire fighters if there is one.
Fire Roads
No, not the road to hell, it’s a different kind of fire road. These are an important method of fire service management, and are small tracks which effectively help to break the path of the fire if there is one. They are also an excellent way for the fire fighters to reach the fire, if there is one where it shouldn’t be!
Prevention as Fire Management
Human involvement is a major factor in many fires which quickly become out of control. This can be due to arson, but also carelessness, throwing a cigarette butt from a car window can cause a fire, not being careful enough with your BBQ can cause a fire. For this reason, there has been a continuous nationwide fire prevention campaign which was actually started in 1937 by President Roosevelt, which highlighted the fact that carelessness causes fires. Subsequent campaigns have included characters from Bambi (probably one of the best examples of what an uncontrolled wildfire can really do) and more recently Smokey Bear, who is the official mascot for the US Forest Service.
Look Out Posts
Look out posts were historically used as a means of spotting fires so that they could be quickly dealt with. These are still evident in some forests, (also useful to climb up if you need a signal for your cell phone) but technology has come on a long way from climbing a tower hasn’t it (I mean fire spotting not cell phones), so now GPS systems are also used in many places. There are also some brilliant electronic devices which work very similarly to the smoke detectors you may have fitted in your kitchen (you know, the one’s which tell you when supper’s ready).
