A firefighter uses a drip torch to ignite timber litter at the edge of a prescribed burn.The Klamath is preparing to implement several prescribed burns this spring. Prescribed burning is an important land management tool for the ecosystems in and around the Klamath, which evolved with frequent fire events. Prescribed fire is used by fire managers to reduce surface and ladder fuels by introducing low intensity fire into an area under a predetermined set of weather and fuel conditions.
Reducing fuels through prescribed burning can decrease fire behavior when wildfires occur. That reduction in fire behavior can, in turn, lessen the risk to communities, infrastructure, natural resources, and habitat. Additional benefits of prescribed fire include improvement of overall forest health and increased resilience of wildlands to future wildfires.
Implementation of these prescribed burns is dependent on the onset of specific fuels and weather conditions, as well as resource availability.