U.S. Forest Service experts came to Hawaii last week to provide “ignition training” to 24 federal, state and county firefighters.
The training helps Hawaii wildland firefighters prepare for more frequent and ferocious fires that will come with climate change, according to a Department of Land and Natural Resources news release.
The planned fire was conducted on former agricultural lands in south Kauai, which are covered in invasive grasses. Across Hawaii, invasive grasses cover 25% of lands and fuel fires, including the Lahaina wildfire.
On the West Coast and on local military bases, planned fires are often started to reduce fuels (like invasive grasses), which also reduces the threat of uncontrolled fires. Hawaii’s former sugar and pineapple plantations also used controlled burns.
After spending hours in the classroom, firefighters took part in a field exercise on how to conduct backburns (creating a new fire that burns in the opposite direction of the advancing fire) for fire control and controlled burns for pre-fire suppression.
Firefighters split into three teams to practice setting up and lighting drip torches, which contain a mix of diesel fuel and gasoline. Once lit, they are used to light invasive grasses.
For the exercise, firebreaks (graded dirt roads) surrounded three-sections of land to prevent flames from spreading.
On training day, it was challenging to start the fire because it had rained overnight and there was high humidity. However, the experience still gave the firefighters practical knowledge needed to start backburns or planned burns.
“We want our firefighting force to know what to do and know what not to do. We can either burn the grass when we want it to burn, or we can wait until it gets ignited by somebody else and then have to go put it out. So, it's something that's really useful,” said Mike Walker, state protection forester with the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife.
Walker said DOFAW has not worked with planned fires, but he hopes the agency will utilize it more from now on.
Fire agencies are required to get a permit from the Department of Health Clean Air Branch in order to conduct a prescribed burn for fire prevention. To get a permit, agencies must produce a formal burn plan and be familiar with the area to be burned, the fuel types and weather.
Michelle Broder Van Dyke covers the Hawaiian Islands for Spectrum News Hawaii. Email her at michelle.brodervandyke@charter.com.