Prescribed fire is one of the most effective tools we have for improving wildlife habitat — but it’s also one that can go wrong fast if it isn’t planned carefully. During my time with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, winter meant burn season on the public lands I managed, and nearly every day with decent fire weather was spent burning hundreds — and occasionally thousands — of acres.
Those burns reinforced one lesson over and over again: safe fire starts long before you ever light a drip torch. And one of the key parts to planning a safe burn is making sure you have solid, reliable firebreaks. If prescribed fire is on your to-do list this year, now is the time to get them planned and in place.
USING WHAT YOU HAVE
Depending on the size of your property, you’ll likely want to break it up into multiple “burn units” so you’ll only burn a portion of the property each year. The size of those units is completely up to you and may be somewhat determined by geography.
While we would often burn large blocks of public land due to the overall size of the tracts we were working on, and the efficiency of doing a few large burns versus dozens of smaller ones, that’s not necessarily the best approach for a private landowner or for wildlife populations.
For most hunting properties, having more, smaller burn units is better than fewer, big units. Those smaller blocks, burned in a rotation, create a patchwork of diverse habitat and lots of edge, which is great for deer and other wildlife. The smaller units also make your burns safer and easier to conduct with limited manpower and equipment.
Once you have an idea of the size and number of burn units you need on your property, it’s time to break out the map and take note of any existing features you could use to serve as natural firebreaks. These natural firebreaks can be roads, creeks, harvested agricultural fields, or any other feature that would prevent a fire from spreading outside your intended burn unit.
Roads
Consider any existing roads bordering or transecting the property — from blacktop highways to two-track dirt paths — that could be used to contain a fire. These were often the backbone of our public land burns. While blacktop and gravel roads will work well as-is, two-track trails through fields or woods may require a little attention to make them suitable as a firebreak.
You’ll want to assess the entire stretch of road to look for any areas where fire may creep across through existing vegetation. You’ll also want to ensure the break is wide enough to contain any embers that drift from the burn area. There’s no hard and fast rule for how wide a firebreak should be, but the wider the better! I always liked a good 8-foot-plus clean break whenever possible.
Bodies of Water
Bodies of water can provide an excellent barrier for prescribed fire. If you have any water features like ponds, rivers, or creeks on your property, consider incorporating them into the boundaries of your burn units.
Rivers and lakes are about as good of a firebreak as you could ask for, since there is virtually no risk of the fire crossing them. Smaller creeks can also work well but need to be checked thoroughly for logs, leaves and other debris that could potentially allow the fire to cross the break.
Crop Fields
Another less common type of “natural” or existing firebreak is crop fields, or any large area of bare ground or green vegetation (winter wheat or cereal rye fields make great firebreaks!). If you have winter food plots or agricultural fields where you hunt, be sure to factor those into your burn-unit boundaries. Depending on the amount of stubble or dead vegetation left in the crop field, it may be necessary to disk or till along the edge to ensure fire doesn’t creep across the field.
CREATING BREAKS FROM SCRATCH
If existing features aren’t enough to keep your prescribed burn contained, then you’ll need to install your own firebreaks as needed. There are a few different ways to do this, depending on your property’s habitat and terrain.
Disked Strips
When a good road or creek wasn’t available, my favorite form of firebreak was a nice, wide disked strip of fresh dirt. Clean dirt makes a great firebreak, but they require relatively flat, open ground.
One great way to make these disked breaks a more permanent feature is to plant them to something that will be green when it’s time to burn. You could plant them to a cereal grain the fall before you plan to burn, which can serve as both a food plot and a firebreak. Or you can go with something that will last more long-term like perennial clover.
While this will eliminate the need to disk it every time you plan to burn, you may still need to blow dead leaves out of the break and keep it as weed free as possible.
Pushed or Plowed Firebreaks
If your ground isn’t level or open, then a pushed or plowed break using a bulldozer is an option. In some states — like where I live here in Georgia — the state’s Department of Forestry will install firebreaks on your property for a fee. And since it’s a big part of their job, they are typically done right. This is a great option if you’re establishing all new firebreaks and burn units on a property. Once your state forestry agency has helped you install breaks, you can usually maintain them on your own after that.
Logging operations are also a great way to get firebreaks. You simply use the remaining trails created by log skidders to divide your burn units.
If you hire a private contractor to install these type of firebreaks or decide to take it on yourself, make sure you do your homework and install the necessary water bars and turnouts to prevent future erosion issues.
Blown Firebreaks
In areas where disked or plowed firebreaks just weren’t possible — like on steep or rocky ground — we’d often break out backpack leaf blowers to create a firebreak. This is my least favorite type of firebreak to work with, not only because it’s labor intensive, but it requires closer monitoring than wider, cleaner breaks. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve burned hundreds, if not thousands, of acres over the years in burn blocks with one or more blown firebreaks, but it definitely kept me on higher alert than usual.
Blown firebreaks may be the only option in some circumstances. If you’re going to use them, make sure to blow them as wide as possible and avoid creating any big piles of leaves by scattering them as much as possible. One stray ember into a big pile of leaves on the other side of the break will quickly turn a good day of burning into a bad one. And make sure you have plenty of help to monitor the fire on the day of your burn.
Also, make sure you are blowing off everything down to bare dirt when possible. If the blower won’t get it all, you may need to follow up with rakes to get the breaks burn-ready.
OTHER CONCERNS
A few final thoughts when it comes to firebreaks and staying safe while burning:
First, be sure to double check all your breaks on the day of the burn, prior to ever lighting a drip torch. Even if you just checked it the day before, a tree or tree branches could have fallen over the break, posing a risk of the fire escaping.
Use that final check to make sure the break still looks good all the way around the burn unit, and also to consider any potential dangers just inside the break. Things like dead tree snags, brush piles, or volatile fuels like tall, dead grass or a dead cedar tree can all pose risks if they are too close to the breaks.
One of the few escapes I witnessed when conducting prescribed burns happened when fire got into a dead pine tree, climbed to the top, and sent an ember into the adjacent private pasture. Fortunately, we were monitoring the breaks closely and were able to get in front of it and put it out before it got out of hand. But in hindsight, that tree should have been dropped prior to ever lighting a match.
It’s always better to identify these potential issues and remove them prior to burning than it is to try to control them once the fire is rolling.
FINAL THOUGHTS
There’s no other method of habitat management that can impact as many acres as quickly as a good prescribed burn. And, when you do them yourself, it can be done very inexpensively as well. But safety always needs to be your top priority. And planning a safe fire always starts with making sure you have good firebreaks in place to contain it.