Introduction

For eons people have set around a camp fire mesmerized by the dancing flames and no doubt from time to time contemplated a fiery origin of the planet Earth. Fire is as natural as rain and wind and almost as common in the history of the earth as dirt. The old folk song refers to the fire as Tess, the rain as Jo, and the wind as Moriah. Rust is the slow oxidation of ferrous metals. Likewise fire is the fast oxidation of certain organic matter.

When the first immigrants to North America crossed the Bering Strait on a bridge of ice some 15,000 years ago or maybe even 25,000 years ago they found a landscape with vegetation that had been shaped by fire according to the fossil and pollen records. The origin of those fires had been natural events such as lightning or volcanic activity or maybe even spontaneous combustion. The frequency, extent, and intensity of those early fires on the landscape are a matter of speculation. But they were no doubt relatively mild compared to what was to come.

Those early American settlers to North America that crossed the Bering Strait probably brought fire with them the beginning of anthropogenic fire in North America. As they migrated south and east they put fire to use to modify the flora of the land to their benefit. They burned the areas around their villages to prevent surprise by unfriendly people or animals. As they traveled from one area to another in nomadic fashion they burned the corridors of their travel to prevent ambush. As they learned more about the vegetation of their new home land they used fire to create conditions to their advantage, greener spring forage for their livestock and to attract game. They drove game with fire. They used fire in battle to form a screen or confound their enemy. We know these things because that is what they were doing when Europeans first arrived on the North American continent.

When those first European settlers arrived and started to venture westward they found a land that was strongly influenced by the repeated incidence of fire. The landscape was generally a vast savanna. In places it was tree studded. In other more mesic areas it was forested with species of plants that were either adapted to fire or to growing with their roots in water. The Europeans did not recognize the influence of fire on the flora and did not recognize the influence of human activity where in fact the flora was strongly influenced by the activity of their predecessors, the Asian settlers.

The information on these pages is provided to assist the reader in gaining an understanding of fire and how to use fire in a safe manner to accomplish certain objectives. In order to be a good prescribed burner and prescriptionist the practitioner must have an understanding of fire, fire weather, fire behavior and the effects of fire on vegetation and soils. At the same time the responsible burner must be aware of the risk associated with prescribed fire including smoke risks and the risk of the escape of fire. Laws pertaining to fire influence the burner. Techniques for suppressing woodland fire are an important set of skills that a burner must be familiar with in order to deal with any potential escapes. A prescribed fire is not always a controlled fire.

Mastery of the material on these pages will prepare the student for certification as a prescribed burner by the Alabama Forestry Commission in accordance with the laws of the State of Alabama. The material is presented in chapters similar to a printed book. There are questions at the ends of the chapters to assist the student in mastering the information.

The material included in these pages comes from several sources. The primary source is from A Guide for Prescribed Burning in the South, Technical Publication R8-TP 11, USDA Forest Service rewritten in 1988 by Dale D. Wade, Southeastern Forest Experiment Station; and James D. Lunsford, Fire Management, Southern Region, USDA Forest Service. Originally written in 1966 by Merlin J. Dixon, Southern Region, USDA Forest Service. 1973-1979 revisions by Hugh E. Mobley, Robert S. Jackson and William E. Balmer, Southeastern Area State and Private Forestry, Wayne E. Ruziska, Southern Region National Forest System, and Walter A. Hough, Southeastern Forest Experiment Station.

Other important sources include Fire Weather, Agricultural Handbook 360, USDA Forest Service written by Mark J. Schroeder and Charles C. Buck, Fire Behavior in the Southeast written by Hugh Mobley, and Smoke Management Guidelines written by Hugh Mobley, Aids to Determining Fuel Models for Estimating Fire Behavior, Hal E. Anderson, NFES 1574, and Fireline Handbook Appendix B:  Fire Behavior, NFES 2165. The 2007 revision of this site includes many more new references including.  These references are sited at the location of the included material.

Photo assistance was provided by the Alabama Forestry Commission; Georgia Forestry Commission; North Carolina Forest Service; USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge; South Carolina Commission of Forestry; Southeastern Forest Experiment Station, Southern Region, and Southern Forest Experiment Station, USDA Forest Service; Tall Timbers Research Station; Union Camp Corporation; and Westvaco Corporation.

Appreciation is expressed to the various State and Federal agencies, private industries and other organizations for their helpful reviews and cooperation.

Questions: Introduction