Texas Fires Respond To Active Forest Management

Although it may seem counterintuitive to fight fire with fire in the forest, a recent report by Mandy Chumley with the National Forests and Grasslands in Texas and Danielle Knight, Forest Service (FS) Southern Region and published in the Texas Logger quarterly publication shows that areas recently affected by wildfire that had received controlled burn treatments were noticeably less damaged than areas that weren’t treated:

In the summer of 2023, East Texas experienced historic wildfire activity due to drought conditions and record-breaking high temperatures. Fire management professionals on the National Forests and Grasslands in Texas responded to 58 wildfires in a two-month period. Two wilderness areas on the Angelina Sabine Ranger District, the Upland Island Wilderness and Indian Mounds Wilderness areas, were threatened by wildfires. The outcomes in these two areas were not the same—and it’s likely prescribed fire made the difference.

Three wildfires occurred within the Upland Island Wilderness, burning 46 acres. This area has been treated with prescribed fire five times in the past 10 years, so the wildfires burned at a lower intensity that allowed for quick containment of the wildfires.

Nearly 60 miles east, a lightning ignition within the Indian Mounds Wilderness sparked the Hogpen Fire that threatened multiple residences and grew beyond local management capacity. It took 14 days to successfully contain this fire, and by then more than 1,200 acres had burned. The Indian Mounds Wilderness was last treated with prescribed fire in 1983.

“Due to the fuel load, access and complexity of the Hogpen Fire in the Indian Mounds Wilderness area, we needed to bring in additional resources and a Type 3 incident management team to coordinate suppression efforts,” said Joey Silva, district fire management officer for the Angelina Sabine Ranger District.

He added, “The three wildfires in the Upland Island Wilderness were lower intensity due to the prior prescribed burn treatments and these fires were suppressed without the need for additional resources.”  

According to Shardul Raval, FS Southern Region Fire and Aviation Management Director, planned and controlled fires are essential in reducing hazardous fuels, protecting life, property and watersheds from extreme wildfires and smoke. Each year the FS Southern Region conducts prescribed burns on more than 1 million acres.