Wildfire 18
Wildfire 18 : Policy: Natural resource professionals and ordinary citizens alike became curious about the ecological effects of wildfire. Ecologists were beginning to recognize the presence and ecological importance of natural lightning-ignited wildfires across the United States. Along with this new discovery of fire knowledge and the emergence of fire ecology as a science came an effort to apply fire to land in a controlled manner. It was learned that suppression of fire in certain ecosystems actually increases the likelihood that a wildfire will occur and increases the intensity of those wildfires. By the 1980s funding efforts began to support prescribed burning. In light of emerging information about wildland fire, rational thought justified funding prescribed burning in order to prevent catastrophic wildfire events. In this way, the costs of implementing prescribed burns were thought to be less than the costs imposed on society by catastrophic wildfires. In addition to using prescribed fire to reduce the chance of catastrophic wildfires, mechanical methods have recently been adopted as well. Mechanical methods include the use of chippers and other machinery to remove hazardous fuels and thereby reduce the risk of wildfire events. Economics of Fire Management Policy: Similar to that of military operations, fire management is often very expensive in the U. S
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