Stefan Reinold, Boulder County Parks and Open Space Senior Forestry Resource Specialist, served as the “Agency Representative” - and introduced the open space site and the natural resource objectives for the “mock” prescribed burn.

Mike Smith, City of Boulder Wildfire Operations Specialist, the “Burn Boss”, showed us the “Burn Plan” and “Incident Action Plan” - and explained who created each of the parts. He also explained his responsibilities and how all the parts of the “Burn Team” fit together.

Jamie Carpenter, City of Boulder Wildfire Operations Specialist, the “Holding Group Supervisor”, explains his responsibility for holding the fire “within the box” utilizing personnel and some combination of water tanks, engines, and hose lays.

Seth McKinney, Boulder County Fire Management Officer, “Ignitions Group Supervisor” demonstrated several fire-setting devices including a “drip torch.”

… and a “Stubby Flare.”

He also showed strategies they use to get one line of fire to move towards another to control and contain the burn.

This cold, snowy field trip involved 26 city and county residents who wondered ‘what goes into implementing a prescribed fire?’ with wildfire experts, forest managers and forest ecologists.  The field trip participants gathered under the picnic shelter at Boulder County Parks and Open Space Ron Stewart Preserve on Rabbit Mountain to find answers.  Experts described the year+ long planning and decision-making process regarding where to burn (based on natural resource considerations), how and when to plan the burn (based on topography, weather expectations, the ability to contain the fire, and the safety of the fire crew), and on the designated day, whether the prescribed burn could actually proceed.

In addition to learning about these many pre-burn considerations and seeing how a “mock” burn is carried out, participants learned how our city and county open space departments use prescribed fire to manage our forests and grasslands, and got an up-close look at the equipment used.

Many of the participants reported how surprised they were that there was so much extensive planning, science, regulation, and preparation involved in advance of prescribed burns and that so many different agencies cooperated and contributed their knowledge and expertise to make these burns possible.