Appropriate Management Response for Wildfires
Here is another article about the changing tactics for wildland fires. From the Missoulian:
For nearly a century, Forest Service firefighters toiled under a policy that every fire discovered in the wilds was to be extinguished before 10 a.m. - the hour considered the start of the next burning cycle.If firefighters didn't catch the blaze, then it was time to bring in more yellow shirts, helicopters and slurry bombers to do whatever it took to douse the flames before the next 10 a.m. deadline.
It was a policy on which generations of Westerners learned to depend. Fire was bad and it had to be beaten back. It didn't matter that fighting the fire could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars a day. It certainly didn't matter that the fire might actually be doing some good.
But those days are well on their way to being over.
...
Using a process called "appropriate management response," Bull said officials identified five of the six as fires that would benefit the forest if allowed to burn. The evaluation process included consideration of a variety of factors: firefighter safety, potential resource benefits of allowing the fire to burn, and costs of fighting the fire.
Interesting stuff. I'm happy to see more coverage of this in the media.
