The University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources Fire Network uses prescribed burns to fight fire with fire. Fire Network Director Lenya N. Quinn-Davidson says the southeast is a leader in prescribed burns.
“The Southeastern US has been the place where that cultural connection to prescribe fire was never lost in the same way that it was in the Western US. We in the Western US skipped generations where people weren’t burning. We lost that knowledge and that skill, and in the Southeastern US, because of the nature of the forest that they have down there, people are much more connected with prescribed fire as a tool,” she said. “Florida, for example, burns two-million acres a year with prescribed fire, where in California we are struggling to get one-hundred-thousand acres a year.”
In 2023 alone, California saw more than 7,000 wildfires and 300,000 acres burned. There were four fatalities and 71 structures damaged or destroyed.
Quinn-Davidson touts the benefits of prescribed fire, not just as a fire prevention tool.
“Many of our ecosystems are adapted to frequent fire fires. Historically, would have burned in some of these places, like in a lot of parts of California, every five to ten years. And for so long we removed fire from these places. We took it out of the system, and I liken it to removing rain or removing sunshine. Removing a really important natural process that regenerates plants, that releases nutrients into the soil, that maintains healthy forest densities,” she explained. “So, by taking that out, we’ve had so many problems, including obviously, increased wildfire risk, but also a lot of ecological impacts, and so bringing fire back in restores a lot of those benefits to the landscape.” However, California has made strides recently with new state legislation that provides protections to users of prescribed fire. Quinn-Davidson says much of California’s work in prescribed fires was inspired by the success in the Southeast.