LOS ANGELES, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- A new Stanford-led study published on Monday has proposed ways of overcoming barriers to prescribed burns - fires purposefully set under controlled conditions to clear ground fuels.

The paper, published Monday in Nature Sustainability, outlines a range of approaches to significantly increase the deployment of prescribed burns in California and potentially in other regions, including Australia, that share similar climate, landscape and policy challenges.

"We need a colossal expansion of fuel treatments," said study lead author Rebecca Miller, a PhD student at the Stanford School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences.

"Prescribed burns are effective and safe," said study co-author Chris Field, director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies. "California needs to remove obstacles to their use so we can avoid more devastating wildfires."

Years of fire suppression in California have led to massive accumulations of wood and plant fuels in forests. Hotter, drier conditions have exacerbated the situation.

Prescribed burns, in combination with thinning of vegetation that allows fire to climb into the tree canopy, have proven effective at reducing wildfire risks, according to the study.

To put a meaningful dent in wildfire numbers, California needs fuel treatments - whether prescribed burns or vegetation thinning - on about 20 million acres or nearly 20 percent of the state's land area, according to the researchers.

California has taken some meaningful steps to make prescribed burning easier. Recent legislation makes private landowners who enroll in a certification and training program or take appropriate precautions before burning exempt from financial liability for any prescribed burns that escape. And new public education programs are improving public opinion of the practice, according to the study. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)