Fire Management

Fire managers and crew meet for a daily briefing, prior to a prescribed fire.     All photos on this page are Copyright © Tom Carlisle, except as noted.

We manage two categories of fire in the Southeast Louisiana Refuges.

Prescribed Fire – These are fires that we plan, conduct and control. These fires reduce the level of fuel available for wildfires and remove invasive species and undesirable plants that compete with the trees and other plants that produce desirable habitat. Prescribed fires also return nutrients to the soil and invigorate the plants that respond well to fire.

Wildfire – These are unplanned fires that threaten the environment, property and humans. We fight these fires.

In both cases, the guiding principles of our applicable fire policies are:

·        Firefighter and public safety is the first priority in every fire management activity.

·        The role of wildland fire as an essential ecological process and natural change agent will be incorporated into the planning process.

·        Fire management plans, programs and activities support land and resource management plans and their implementation.

·        Sound risk management is a foundation for all fire management activities.

·        Fire management programs and activities are economically viable, based upon values to be protected, costs, and land and resource management objectives.

·        Fire management plans and activities are based upon the best available science.

·        Fire management plans and activities incorporate public health and environmental quality considerations.

·        Federal, State, Tribal, and local interagency coordination and cooperation are essential.

·        Standardization of policies and procedures among Federal agencies is an ongoing objective.

A fire truck used to manage fires in the Southeast Louisiana Refuges.

To learn more about the fire management programs of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and partner agencies, see the following links.

·        The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Fire Management page at http://www.fws.gov/fire/

·        The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) at http://www.nifc.gov/

·        The National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC) at http://www.nifc.gov/nicc/index.htm

·        The Southern Area Coordination Center (SACC) at http://gacc.nifc.gov/sacc/

·        The National Interagency Prescribed Fire Training Center at http://fire.fws.gov/pftc/

·        The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry at http://www.ldaf.state.la.us/

·        The Mississippi Forestry Commission at http://www.mfc.state.ms.us/

A prescribed fire area at Big Branch Marsh NWR is burned from the edge towards the middle.

	Fire breaks are cleared to prevent the spread of fires.

Specialized earthmoving equipment is used to clear fire breaks that prevent the spread of fires and to build fire roads that allow access to manage fires.

	An area along the Pipeline Canal at Big Branch Marsh NWR recovers following a prescribed fire.

The series of photos below shows an area at Bogue Chitto National Wildlife Refuge that was the subject of a prescribed fire. The first photo is before the fire. The second picture is just after the fire. The last four photos show the recovery of the area over the next five months. © USFWS.
We use airboats to manage fire in marshy areas of the refuges and along canals and other open water.
	The PREMO MK III™ fire lighter is used from a helicopter to drop small plastic balls that ignite on the ground to help start prescribed fires. The plastic balls are sometimes referred to as "ping-pong balls" but they are actually smaller and made of a different plastic than ping-pong balls.

We also use aircraft as observation posts to monitor fires and to ignite prescribed fires in certain areas.

	The Marshmaster is useful in areas where we have to move easily from dry land to marsh and even to open water.

Desirable grasses begin to recover following a prescribed fire.

	Crawfish quickly recover and return to their normal habits after a prescribed fire. Here we see a fresh crawfish mound but the crawfish is out of sight.
This sequence of photos shows a prescribed fire as it moves through an area, to a water-filled roadside ditch. The water filled ditch and the road serve as a fire break. This sequence of eleven photos spans a period of ten minutes.