“Before we even go out and do a prescribed burn we have to make sure all the conditions are right,” Jeanne Klein, Bureau of Land Management, Medford District.
Agencies have to check if the fuel or vegetation is dry enough, and if wind directions, as well as humidity, are on their side.
“We’re constantly in communication with our dispatchers and supervisors to make sure and see how the fire is going,” said Klein.
Fuel specialists will plan controlled burns years ahead.
“They’ll go out to the field and look at a unit or area on public land and write a prescription saying what we need to do,” Klein said.
Klein says after a strategy is put in place, it’s important to clear out all the vegetation.
“That underbrush if not cleared out provides a ladder for the fire to catch and move on up through the canopy,” she said.
The Bureau of Land Management will be out at Cantrall Buckley County Park outside of Ruch, as well as Trail Creek in Shady Cove. The agency will be burning about 135 acres this week, weather permitting.
It’s expecting to burn more than 1,100 acres this spring.
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