Americans have seen the dangers wildfires pose this year, from the deadly fires that struck Maui to the Canadian fires that spread smoke into upstate New York and beyond. 

But one way forest crews attempt to anticipate, or stop, such fires from happening is actually through prescribed burns, and that's not the only benefit from undertaking prescribed burns.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the burns also minimize the spread of pest insects and disease, provide food for animal, improves the habitat for threatened and endangered species and recycles nutrients.

At Heiberg Memorial Forest, the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry performed a prescribed burn to show students how to use fire as a management tool to prevent explosive wildfires.

According to Andrew Vander Yacht, an assistant professor at SUNY ESF, a prescribed burn is a common tool used in other parts of the country that's getting increased interest in the northeast.

Doing this limits the intensity and spread of fire if something burns in the forest.

“If we apply it ahead of time, the emissions during those wildfires could actually be two-to-threefold less," Vander Yacht said.

“What’s nice about putting fire on the ground in these areas intentionally is that it reduces the fuel bed," said Applied Forest & Fire Ecology Lab masters student Maria Loughran. "So it reduces the amount of fuel that you have available to burn in an area.”

However, you need a certain set of weather conditions to be able to carry out a prescribed burn.

Vander Yacht’s team uses data models to look at weather and fuel data. They take that and use it to predict the type of fire they could get on any given day. The day of, they determine if the weather is safe and effective before they go forward. Vander Yacht mentioned the importance of having respect for fire.

He acknowledged that it can go wrong at any moment, and wants the students to understand that they have to stay within their parameters.

According to the U.S. Forest Service, prescribed fires, as well as other treatments, have been very effective in reducing the risk of wildfires.

According to its website, they’ve completed more than 3,000 assessments since 2006. They say about 89% of the fuel treatments were effective in changing fire behavior.