Prevention

Why Are Wildfires Getting Worse? 

Fire has shaped America's landscapes for millennia. Many ecosystems—from prairie grasslands, to pine forests, to chaparral, to wetlands—evolved with fire and depend on it for their continued health.

Naturally-occurring, low-intensity fires provide essential ecological benefits by: 

• Reducing dense understory and dead plants that can fuel extreme wildfires
• Returning nutrients to the soil
• Promoting the growth of native plants
• Creating diverse habitat for wildlife, including threatened and endangered species
• Maintaining healthy ecosystems

For decades, federal policy attempted to protect people from wildfires by removing all fire from the landscape. Modern wildfire science shows that this approach threw fire-adapted ecosystems out of balance, creating an abundance of overgrowth. Combined with hotter, drier conditions and the rapid spread of invasive species that further fuel wildfires, this set the stage for the catastrophic wildfires we see today.

Our Approach 

Through proactive vegetation management, the U.S. Wildland Fire Service restores fire-resilient ecosystems on public lands while working strategically to prevent extreme wildfires that destroy homes and infrastructure, threaten lives, and damage ecosystems beyond their ability to recover naturally.

By removing overgrown vegetation that can fuel extreme wildfires, we are: 

• Protecting lives, communities, and infrastructure, especially those located near grasslands, forests, or other natural areas (called the wildland urban interface), which can be especially vulnerable to wildfires. We create fuel breaks and decrease the density of vegetation to reduce the chance that lives will be lost or property damaged by wildfires.
• Improving firefighter safety and effectiveness. Fuels management is one of the most effective tools to enable safe and efficient wildfire response. These projects help to reduce the size and intensity of future wildfires, making them easier to control with fewer people and less equipment, while also improving safe access.
• Restoring and maintaining ecosystem health. Fuels management builds wildfire resilience by reducing small trees, brush, dead branches, and limbs (called ladder fuels), making it less likely that future wildfires will torch an entire landscape or burn through communities. 

Americans from all walks of life benefit from healthy public lands that are resilient to wildfire, from visitors who recreate on public lands, to neighboring communities, to ranchers who rely on public lands for grazing, to the public that relies on these lands for clean air and water.  

Fuels Management 

The U.S. Wildland Fire Service manages hazardous fuels through a variety of techniques. These projects are strategically planned to maintain prior fuels treatments and to prioritize areas where fuel reductions will provide the greatest benefit. 

Every project is informed by the best available science. We use advanced modeling tools to predict fire behavior, prioritize fuel management locations, evaluate local conditions, and assess project effectiveness.  

Prescribed Fire 

Prescribed fire—intentionally setting carefully planned fires under specific weather and fuel conditions—is one of our most effective tools for restoring fire-resilient landscapes and preventing catastrophic wildfires. 

Fire managers develop detailed burn plans specifying exactly when, where, and under what conditions burning will occur. Weather, fuel moisture, wind speed and direction, temperature, and humidity must all fall within precise parameters. Trained crews ignite and control the fire, using natural and constructed firebreaks to keep it within predetermined boundaries. 

Prescribed fires have many benefits. They: 

• Safely reduce accumulated vegetation before it can fuel an extreme wildfire. 

• Restore natural fire cycles that many ecosystems depend on. 

• Are less expensive and more ecologically beneficial than mechanical treatment. 

• Create a patchwork of burned and unburned areas that will slow the spread of wildfires. 

• Support healthy populations of fire-dependent species.

Mechanical Treatment 

Mechanical treatments help to thin overly dense vegetation using chainsaws or heavy equipment. This can include removing dead and dying trees, mowing, and masticating dense brush and grasses.

Through mechanical treatments, we also create strategic fuel breaks near communities and infrastructure to reduce their risk from wildfires. 

Manual Treatment 

Our crews remove brush and small trees by hand, particularly in sensitive areas. These manual treatments may also create defensible space around structures and cultural sites.  

Chemical Treatment 

Invasive plants such as cheatgrass, buffelgrass, and salt cedar can fuel wildfires, accelerate their spread, and increase the likelihood of unusually severe wildfires.  

Invasive plants often achieve a foothold in the wake of a wildfire, which creates a blank canvas where they can invade and spread. These invasive plants then dry out quickly in warm weather, fueling more extreme wildfires that in turn create room for the invasives to spread further.

We chemically treat areas overgrown with invasive plants using herbicides, then seed the areas with native plants to restore a healthy, more fire-resilient ecosystem. 

Grazing 

We may also use livestock—including cows, goats, and sheep—to reduce excess vegetation and remove invasive plants through grazing. Livestock can be a useful tool to reduce fine fuels, such as those composed of invasive annual grasses like cheatgrass, medusahead wildrye, or field brome.  

The Path Forward

Our goal is to restore healthier, more resilient ecosystems where fire plays its natural role in the environment, catastrophic wildfires are significantly reduced, and communities can thrive. By strategically reducing hazardous fuels, reintroducing beneficial fire, stopping the spread of invasive plants, and empowering communities to reduce their own risk, the U.S. Wildland Fire Service is working to create a future where people can live safely with fire.