DOINews: BLM Fuels Reduction: An Old Principle that Still Works

The principle is old and simple: Take away the fuel from a fire, and it can't burn.


That's the idea behind the Bureau of Land Management's fuel reduction program, an effort to remove potentially hazardous vegetation before it ignites. Effective fuel reduction not only keeps wildfires smaller in size but also supports the two primary goals of BLM's Fire and Aviation program by improving safety for firefighters and the public and protecting property.

Removing fuels before wildfire strikes reduces the danger to the public and firefighters and decreases fire behavior.

In 2013, the BLM treated about 360,000 acres through prescribed fire, mechanical removal and chemical treatments.

“That's about one thousand acres a day,” says Howard Hedrick, acting assistant director for BLM Fire and Aviation. “The credit for that goes to the field offices in the BLM states, where the work was completed. Overall, we think it was a very successful year.”

The effectiveness of fuels treatment work was quantified in 2013 for the first time. A new, web-based tool showed that, in 2012, 322 BLM wildfires intersected with hazardous fuels reduction projects. In 96 percent of the cases, fire activity was slowed or stopped. The numbers haven't been completely tallied for 2013, but the indications are that reduction treatments were again effective.

These firefighters are igniting the West Cinder prescribed fire in the BLM Twin Falls District in Idaho to reduce dangerous fire behavior.

“We concentrated on protecting sage-grouse habitat, and overall, supporting resilient landscapes,” says Ted Milesnick, BLM's acting chief of the Fire Planning and Fuels Management Division at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

“Our fuels treatment program continued to show success,” says Dave Mueller, BLM's national fuels program manager. “The work reduced intense fire behavior, provided opportunities for safe suppression actions, as well as meeting our land-management objectives.”

Mueller says there are many examples of where BLM fuels work made a difference. The lightning-caused Dean Peak fire near the communities of Pine Lake and Pinion Pine, Ariz., is one such case. At a critical time during the fast-moving blaze, firefighters used a portion of the 3.2-mile Pinion Pine Fuel Break, one of several fuels reduction projects in the area, as a point to begin burnout operations.

A report that examined the effectiveness of the fuels work concluded, “The operations section chief and division supervisor … both stated that the fuel break was critical to allowing firefighters to quickly and safely conduct the burnout operation.”


The same report stated that the heat, fire intensity, rate of spread and flame lengths were all reduced to a fraction of what would have been expected due to the fuel break.


“It was a good example of multiple treatments used to protect the town,” Mueller says.


The principle of reducing fuels to reduce wildfire may be old and simple, but the results are now proven: Fuels treatments work.

By: Donald Smurthwaite, BLM National Interagency Fire Center

Jan. 23, 2014