Prescribed burns are widely recognized as an effective wildfire mitigation tool. Now, using satellite imagery, land management records and fire emissions data, a team of researchers has put hard numbers to those impacts. During the 2020 season, fires that burned over recent prescribed fire areas were 16 percent less intense and emitted 220 fewer pounds of smoke per acre.
鈥淥ne ton of prescribed fire smoke reduces 3.2 tons of future wildfire smoke,鈥� said Makoto Kelp, a postdoctoral scholar at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and the lead author. Those calculations include the smoke emitted by the prescribed fires themselves.
鈥淐urrently, federal and state wildfire mitigation policies don't really include the potential avoided emissions from future wildfires as a benefit of prescribed fires,鈥� he added. 鈥淪o including these in risk benefit analyses could justify greater investment and public support.鈥�
One troubling finding is that prescribed fires near structures adjacent to the wildlands appear to be less effective. Kelp hypothesized that heightened caution among land managers may lead to less thorough prescribed burning near homes, adding: 鈥測ou don't want that prescribed fire to escape.鈥�
鈥淚t's a bit concerning because these are areas of heightened policy focus,鈥� he said.
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