USFS: Prescribed burns necessary, despite smoky skies

The sun is out and spring is in the air, but so is smoke — and that means prescribed burn season is officially upon us.

On Sunday, fire crews ignited 150 acres of land at the Rimrock Trailhead about a mile west of Bend.

The burn came as as a surprise to some who were out enjoying one of the first sunny Sundays of spring.

With homes, hotels, trails and the golf course all nearby, not everyone was happy about all the smoke.

But according to Kassidy Kern, public affairs specialist with the Deschutes National Forest, prescribed burns play an important role in protecting the community and environment from intense summer wildfires.

“We recognize that it’s inconvenient for folks when we burn on the weekends,” Kern said Monday. “I hike as well, and like to get out and ride my mountain bike or do whatever, so it’s unfortunate when those windows do come when they do. But at the same time it allows us to get really good work done adjacent to our communities. That, to us, is the critical piece.”

“So burn windows happen every day of the week It’s unfortunate when they do happen on the weekends, because much like the public in Central Oregon, we would like to have our weekends, too,” Kern said.

She added, “Those burn units are very narrow, because they are outside of communities, and so we’re trying to minimize the smoke impacts. And so when we get those windows, they’re pretty narrow and we go for them.”

A few people contacted NewsChannel 21, angry that the Forest Service chose a nice spring Sunday to burn But the agency said it wants to make sure people know that the burns are done for their future benefit.

“So I think if we all recognize there’s a short trade-off of smoke that’s kind of passing through and inconveniencing us for a couple hours, we recognize the genuine benefits that our firefighters can go direct in a wildfire situation,” Kern said.

Not everyone was upset by the smoke. Golfer and Bend resident James Wright said he knows the burns are good for the community in the long run.

“If they’re doing it now, that’s less to burn in the summer,” Wright said. “So if it’s going to be a little bit now vs. 98 degrees and smoke, and it’s not burning anything close to town, I say, ‘Go for it. Burn it up,'”

Prescribed burns are meant to mimic Central Oregon’s existing fire ecosystem. And a good prescribed burn gives fire crews a better chance at fighting a wildfire on the ground, and protecting homes.

The goal of these prescribed burns is to minimize the devastation and protect the community when true wildfire season begins.

There are two more burns planned for this week west of Bend. One will be just north of the Rimrock Trailhead, on the north side of the highway. The other planned burn is near Skyliners Road.

For more information on upcoming prescribed burns, you can visit the the Central Oregon Fire information website: http://centralorfireinfo.blogspot.com/2018/04/prescribed-burn-planned-for-sunday-at.html?m=1