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FIRE MANAGEMENT
POSITION STATEMENT
Position: Fire is an integral component of many forest ecosystems in Michigan, and is an essential management tool for improving the health and sustainability of these forests. People living and working in these fire-prone forests are at great risk from wildfire. Fire is intrinsically neither good nor bad. Fire can be extremely beneficial when used as a component of a management strategy to achieve specific ecosystem objectives. Unplanned and uncontrolled, fire can be extremely destructive to life and property.
The use of fire as a tool must reflect the land management objectives of a given forest area. The benefits of fire as a management tool must be balanced against the risks to people should prescribed fire escape. Prescribed fires must be planned to minimize the potential adverse health and visibility effects of smoke and the risk of escape.
Professional foresters should work to inform people living in wildland areas and local governments about fire prevention and the risks associated with wildfire. They should encourage and strive for realistic zoning, building, and insurance codes. People living in wildland areas need to know the specific wildfire risks they face, how they can prevent fires, and how to improve the safety of structures in the event of a fire. Professional foresters should also seek out opportunities to inform residents of wildland areas and local governments about the benefits and safe use of prescribed fire.
The skills and resources of land management agencies and local fire departments to suppress wildfires and carry out prescribed fires should be maintained and improved.
Issue: More than ever before, people are building homes in wooded areas. Many of these forest ecosystems are fire-evolved. Fuel types and climate, coupled with higher probabilities of ignition due to human presence, make catastrophic fires almost a certainty. These homes are often built of materials or in a manner that preclude their defense if a wildfire approaches the structure. Land management agency fire crews well-trained and efficient in the control of wildland fires are often not trained or equipped to suppress structural fires, so coordination with local fire departments is essential.
Issue: Some Michigan forest types, such as jack pine and paper birch, have evolved a fire-adapted ecology. Also, some endangered species, such as the Kirtland’s warbler and Karner blue butterfly, rely on habitats that were historically created by frequent wildfires. Certain stand characteristics can only be created by, or are best achieved by, the use of prescribed fire. Maintenance of the ecological integrity of particular rare vegetation types, such as savannas and prairie lands, requires the use of fire.
Issue: Failing to allow professional flexibility in the use of fire as a management tool can result in undesirable impacts to the citizens and natural resources of the state. Land management professionals recognize fire as a modifier of the environment and the importance of its role in maintaining forest health and productivity. Most land management agencies and private corporate landowners have fire management policies that include wildfire suppression and prescribed fire. These policies integrate the use of fire into land management strategies.
Issue: Smoke from prescribed burns can temporarily cause discomfort to nearby residents and reduce visibility near highways, airports, and elsewhere. On the other hand, periodic prescribed fires can reduce fuel loads, resulting in lower smoke and particulate emissions and fire intensity from wildfires that will inevitably occur in fire-prone forest types.
Discussion: The goal of modern fire management is to minimize the destructive effects of fire while maximizing its long-term benefits. Fire management recognizes that fire has an important place in the landscape as a natural process.
Michigan and the other Great Lakes States have a long history of catastrophic wildland fires. In 1871 the Peshtigo Fire killed 1,500 people and burned about 1.5 million acres, mostly in Wisconsin. The Thumb Fires of that same year burned a million acres. More recently, the 1976 Walsh Ditch Fire burned 72,500 acres; the 1980 Mack Lake Fire burned 25,000 acres, 44 homes, and claimed one life; and the 1990 Stephan Bridge Road Fire burned 6,000 acres and 76 residences.
The continued education of landowners and builders, the adoption of appropriate building and insurance codes, and maintaining and improving the skills and resources of land management agencies and local fire departments to suppress wildfires and carry out prescribed fires will help ensure safer and healthier forest areas which meet the needs and objectives of society.
This website is maintained by Bill Cook, Michigan State University Extension
Forest in the Upper Peninsula. Comments, questions,
and suggestions are gratefully accepted.
Last update of this page was
30 September, 2005