Adam Mendonca, deputy fire director with the U.S. Forest Service, explains why prescribed fires, also known as controlled burns, are critical to prevent wildfires.
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00:00We want to learn more about how these fires spread and what it takes to actually contain them.
00:04Yeah, and Adam Mamdassa is Deputy Fire Director for the U.S. Forest Service. He joins us live
00:12with more. Thank you so much, Adam, for joining us. First question right off the bat,
00:16is drought making fire prevention more difficult to manage?
00:22Yeah, thank you for having me. Thrilled to be here and to start right off, yes.
00:26So as we look at the conditions when these fires start,
00:30vegetative moisture levels is really important. And so as we look at drought, definitely a factor
00:37as we look at how fire moves across landscape, and it really does influence just how difficult
00:41these fires are to deal with. And we're wondering how effective
00:45controlled burns are in managing the fire risk. I know that you're in D.C., we're in Pennsylvania,
00:50and some of these controlled burns happen most springs in many of these areas. Can they be done
00:55safely in California, and are they effective? Yeah, so prescribed fire, or these controlled
01:01burns, are critical for how we try to manage the vegetation. So you're really trying to reduce the
01:07amount of consumable material out there, so what can burn, and prescribed fire is a great way to
01:13do that. And so they are very effective at actually combating these fires. What's so
01:20difficult about prescribed fire, though, is that you really try to conduct that when the conditions
01:25are right, so that you can burn the areas you want to burn, and not have them get outside those
01:29areas. And so, to your point, many of our prescribed fires occur in the spring. We will do them
01:34throughout the year, though, based on the conditions, when the conditions are right.
01:37And so, for California specific, we have an active prescribed fire program in the federal
01:42government, but we also work with partners like the states to control burns across jurisdictions.
01:48So key components for folks, we know that they impact folks with things like smoke,
01:53but they are our best tool for actually trying to reduce the risk of fire, and help us with these
01:59types of situations. And Adam, are crown fires, those are fires that spread from the tops of
02:06dry trees, becoming a more common fire threat? So, we do see more high-intensity fire, so
02:14really quick, one thing to know for folks, so crown fire, there's two types of crown fire,
02:19you have dependent, that's where you got to have fire underneath it, preheats the trees,
02:23dries them out, and then there's independent, and that's where crown fire will just run across
02:27the tops of the trees. Independent crown fire, still pretty uncommon. So, we don't see a lot
02:33of that, but we do see a lot of dependent crown fire, we're seeing more and more of those types
02:38of fires, and it goes back to, there's a lot of vegetation on the ground that has built up over
02:43the years, it gets to burning, it pretreats, or it dries out that vegetation, those crowns
02:49of those living trees, and it allows fire to move through there. So, going back to your previous
02:53question, that's why prescribed fire is so important. We look at trying to remove that
02:58vegetation from the understory, or the undergrowth, so that it doesn't pretreat those trees, it
03:04doesn't dry them out. And so, because independent crown fire is so rare, if we can take care of that
03:10vegetation under the trees, we can truly reduce the risk of having a crown fire move through these
03:15areas. A lot easier to control these cooler burning fires if, again, things are managed well.
03:21I know a lot's changed over the past hundred years with philosophies of fire management.
03:25Adam Mandonka, Deputy Fire Director with the U.S. Forestry Service. Thanks again, Adam. Thank you.