CalFire trialing Prescribed Burns ahead of this year's fire season

Image Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images via SF Gate

This article was written by Madilynne Medina and published by SF Gate on 11.3.2025 and adapted for this post.

Read the original article here

As California experiences rare relief from massive wildfires, Cal Fire crews say they expect to ramp up controlled burns throughout the state soon. 

Controlled burns, also known as prescribed fires, are intentional fires that are set in favorable weather conditions to help reduce wildfire risk and strengthen the ecosystem’s natural recovery, according to Cal Fire. Other government agencies including the U.S. Forest Service and State Parks also conduct these burns across California.

When these fires occur, people nearby may be concerned by smoke they see in the distance, but Cal Fire crews say it’s important to remember that these are planned.

“We have it under control, but we also have backup plans, so in case something were to jump our lines,” Brent Pascua, a Cal Fire battalion chief based in Sacramento, told SFGATE. “… [We have] two, three, four backup plans, so the neighbors should feel really safe.”

Pascua said that the prescribed burns are typically set in wildland that borders populated areas, such as Campo, an unincorporated community in San Diego County. Peak controlled burn season is October through February when humidity is higher, winds are calmer and temperatures are lower.

“Where it’s a calm, mild day and we’re not sending a lot of smoke into crowded areas, those are the days we’re able to burn,” he said.

Though Pascua said crews have been able to conduct some burns so far last month, weather conditions are still not ideal yet, even amid the calm fire conditions.

“[It’s been] a slow week for our burn numbers, but all of our projects are set to go,” he said in a Thursday interview. “The weather’s been a bit of a challenge just because it has to be a high relative humidity, low wind, non-windy day and the temperatures can’t be high and elevated like we saw in Southern California.”

In recent weeks, several burns have taken place throughout Northern California. One 25-acre burn at Sonoma Valley Regional Park on Oct. 30 took place in the footprint of the 2017 Nuns Fire, Ben Nicholls, the division chief for Cal Fire’s Sonoma County operations, said in a video statement. Another fire completed on Oct. 24 at nearby Tolay Lake Regional Park burned 76 acres.

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It’s also been increasingly difficult some years to conduct these preventative operations nationwide because of climate change, according to a 2023 study published in the scientific journal Nature. The authors, who include Daniel Swain, climate scientist with the University of California division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and several other scientists, found that because of the Earth’s warming, the total number of days that crews can conduct prescribed burns is expected to decline by 17% by 2060.

On Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order that would increase the state’s wildfire risk reduction programs and “expand tools to safely deploy prescribed fire.” In the news release announcing the order, Newsom’s office said the initiative comes as “President Trump’s gutted U.S. Forest Service has deprioritized critical wildfire prevention efforts.”

Pascua said the controlled fires are just one part of easing the state’s wildfire risk. Fuel treatments, cutting brush and making homes and buildings fire-resistant are also part of the strategy.

“It’s part of a bigger puzzle,” he said. “Not one thing is going to, you know, be able to completely stop a wildfire, but if you get all these other pieces together, that gives you your best chance.”