JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. – Most people know of Smokey Bear and his trademark phrase, “Only you can prevent wildfires,” but while Smokey preached good practices, he was partly correct – prescribed burns can also prevent wildfires.
Joint Base Lewis-McChord uses prescribed burns as a necessary preventative step to keep the cantonment and the surrounding community safe. Prescribed burns eliminate the fuel, or the amount of flammable material, like underbrush, in an area that can feed potential wildfires. A fire burning in an area of reduced fuels typically moves slower and is more easily extinguished.
If a fire is ignited near service members, they have more time to move to a safer place while awaiting fire response personnel. Also, the chance of fire being ignited by a training exercise is diminished in an area recently burned by a prescribed fire.
Reducing fuel load is the most important benefit to the surrounding community because it decreases the chances of devastating wildfires.
While many people think it’s a new practice, prescribed burns have been going on for hundreds of years. Native Americans are believed to have passed the practice on to the first European settlers and prescribed burns largely continued until the early 20th century.
Due to misinformation about the effects of prescribed burns, the consensus became all fires were bad fires, and the practice was largely halted throughout the United States around 1913. Instead of protecting the public and the forests, fire suppression led to the accumulation of fuel loads which in turn caused devastating wildfires.
As a result, the U.S. Forest Service repealed the Forest Fires Emergency Act in 1978 which required all fires to be extinguished as quickly as possible.
The ecosystems on JBLM also depend on fire to survive. JBLM has some of the rarest and most diverse ecosystems in Western Washington.
From the Nisqually river to the Puget lowland prairies, Oregon white oak woodlands and upland conifer forests with fish-bearing streams, artesian wetlands and kettle lakes throughout, there is a lot to protect. Endangered species who need to be protected also call JBLM’s native prairie habitats home.
These native prairie habitats are fire-adapted ecosystems which mean they require fire to produce the plants that animals need to survive. If fire didn’t burn in this area, plants like Scotch broom, an invasive species, would take over.
The installation is responsible for suppressing wildfires that occur on base, which means JBLM can burn despite local county burn bans. Fire danger burn bans are put into place by the fire department responsible for that area's fire suppression.
JBLM does follow air quality burn bans, and halts burning when one is in place. Every morning before a burn, the team monitors real-time air quality and weather forecasts to ensure minimal impact to the surrounding communities.
The team burns in such a way that smoke goes up then dissipates, rather than spreading out low. Communities are usually only affected by wildfires, not controlled burns. However, if someone does experience nuisance smoke from a controlled burn, they can call 253-912-2049 to report it. If a burn is found to be creating nuisance smoke that is causing negative health impacts on the community, it is shut down.
A schedule of prescribed burns is available on the Sustainable JBLM Facebook page, and more information about prescribed burns on JBLM can be found at the JBLM website: https://home.army.mil/lewis-mcchord/index.php/my-Joint-Base-Lewis-Mcchord/all-services/public_works-environmental_division/wildland-fire.
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