I'm writing this, my first column as president of the IAWF Board of Directors, from a hotel room in Reno, Nev. We've just completed Wildland Fire 2004 and the National Fire Plan Conference in conjunction with the International Association of Fire Chiefs. More than 1,000 folks registered and more than 90 vendors displayed their goods and services. Plans are already in the works for the 2005 event.

One of the more significant events of the week was the roll-out of the Healthy Forest Restoration Act Guidebook by DOI Assistant Secretaries Lynn Scarlett and Rebecca Watson and USDA Undersecretary Mark Rey. The guidebook is intended to provide direction to USFS and BLM fire managers and line officers for implementation of the provisions of the act in the coming months and years. Rey stated that “this underscores the need to get the work done now and not in three years. The sense of urgency is not going to go away.”

While Agriculture and Interior officials were enthusiastic about the potential results of the increased emphasis on thinning and prescribed fire to reduce the fire threat in the wildland-urban interface, some of the fire folks in attendance weren't quite so certain that the assigned targets could be reasonably achieved.

With the loss of skilled prescribed burners due to retirements, long-term fuel accumulations in many areas, public sensitivity to smoke, increasing concerns about liability issues from escapes, and fire suppression responsibilities that extend across the United States from early spring until late fall, many prescribed burners expressed doubts that the acreage targets are “do-able.” They're concerned that the pressure to achieve burning targets will result in prescribed burn bosses “pushing the prescription window” to burn when conditions are marginal and the risk of escape is increased. The memories of the Cerro Grande prescribed fire that escaped prescription in 2000 and burned 250 homes in Los Alamos, N.M., is still fresh in the memories of most U.S. firefighters, as is the political fallout that followed.

Another factor that concerns the fire managers I've visited with relates to the potential conflict between the risks involved in prescribed burning and the increased emphasis on accountability that is occurring when an escape inevitably happens. These prescribed fire managers and burners are feeling increased pressure to burn, but sense a readiness on management's part to hold them accountable to the letter of the law when something goes wrong on their watch. The ever-present threat of personal liability lawsuits by affected neighbors has burners looking over their shoulders, as does the possibility of a misconduct investigation, as is now occurring as the result of the Cramer Fire fatalities in Idaho in July 2003.

The Healthy Forests Restoration Act is now the law of the land, but its successful implementation in the coming years remains to be proven. You, the on-the-ground fire managers and prescribed burners, are the folks who must make it happen. What do you think? Is it do-able? What are the pitfalls that must be avoided if we're going to successfully prescribe burn and mechanically treat fuels on millions of acres each year? Let us know. We'd love to share your thoughts through Wildfire magazine with the rest of the fire community.

A last thought: The IAWF has made major gains in becoming the internationally recognized leader on the world stage of wildland fire. These gains are due, in no small part, to the commitment and dedicated efforts of Bruce Suenram, who served as our president for the past three years. On behalf of the board of directors of IAWF, and the rest of the general membership, I'd like to offer Bruce our heartfelt “thanks” for a job well done.

Contact the IAWF

International Association of Wildland Fire
4025 Fair Ridge Drive Fairfax, Va. 22033
phone: 785-423-1818
fax: 785-542-3511
e-mail: iawf@iawfonline.org

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Attn: Lisa Allegretti e-mail: lallegretti@primediabusiness.com