Currently: Behind the Scenes of a Prescribed Fire | March 2022

A few weeks ago, in the midst of my most recent style sudoku capsule wardrobe, I was fortunate to have a day out of the office and in the field to watch a prescribed fire operation! It was my first time ever seeing how a prescribed fire (also known as a controlled burn) happens. What I didn’t realize is just how much work goes into preparing for prescribed fires—these burns are planned YEARS in advance, and once it’s ready to go, they have to hope for good weather! Luckily, the burn day was absolutely beautiful. We couldn’t have asked for a better day!

Behind the Scenes of a Prescribed Fire Operation

Once we got out to the burn site, things kicked off with a pre-burn briefing, where they went over the general plan, weather forecast, communications information, emergency information, and so on. The wildland firefighters dressed in their gear (a yellow shirt that has fire retardant to keep them safe, long pants, sturdy boots, and hard hats) and got to work getting the water lines and trucks set up, hosing down the surrounding vegetation to keep it from burning.

A little over an hour and a half after the pre-burn briefing, a test burn was lit in one corner of the burn area. They had to make some adjustments with the water, but after that was figured out, they started on the full burn! (They also have to take into account weather conditions before starting the full burn; if any weather parameters take the burn "out of prescription”—for example, if the relative humidity is too high or if the smoke isn’t dispersing well due to winds—they have to call off the burn.)

The firefighters walked along the perimeter, lighting the fire along the way, and they also threw these grenade/firework-type-things into the center of the field to “pull” the fire into the middle. It was a beautiful burn, though I did worry about critters (we saw hawks circling overhead looking for exposed rodents, and we also saw some other wetland birds fly out). They could only burn this particular wetland at this time of year because the birds weren’t nesting. That’s always taken into account when planning burns! The goal was to improve the overall health of the wetland ecosystem.

When the fire got close to us, I couldn’t believe how hot it was, and we were many feet away from it! I couldn’t believe that the firefighters could stand to be so close to it. It felt like my face was going to burn off if I looked at it for too long, lol. The burn moved through the 40-acre wetland quickly, and even though we were right next to a highway, there were no smoke impacts to the road. Success!

I included a few snapshots of the burn below, and you can see more photos and videos of my day in my Instagram story highlights! I hope I get to attend more burns in the future. 🔥

I joined Anne’s currently link up this month to share what else I’m up to right now!

Currently | March 2022

collecting: books, LOL. It’s bad. I’m adding to my TBR list faster than I’m reading books; I’ve been taking advantage of the Amazon First Reads where Prime members can pick a new book for free every month out of a selection of upcoming releases. I’m planning to end my Prime membership this year so gotta stock up! I also need to read through the books I borrowed with Prime ASAP.

craving: warm spring weather and thunderstorms. I’m sooo ready for winter to be over! Luckily it’s going to be near 65°F today, and I just might have to go for a walk to enjoy it (maybe with the cats?). I just moved into a new office space with a WINDOW, so for the two days I’m in the office each week, I can enjoy the view and keep my eyes peeled for exciting weather!

picturing: a more organized life. I recently bought a bunch more organizing bins from The Container Store that I can’t wait to receive. I now just need to find the time to go through all my crap! Korri and I have a bad habit of buying gadgets and then not having a good place to keep them all, and I know I could stand to donate a lot of the things I have laying around (especially from the boxes from my parents’ house that I haven’t looked at since they dropped them off a few years ago lol).

playing: Wordle, Taylordle (Taylor Swift version), Ooodle (math version), Airportle (airport codes—arguably the hardest), and Worldle (world geography). Haha! I resisted Wordle for quite a while, but my step mom, a couple of my brothers, and Korri play regularly and share our results in a family group chat. Some of the words have been SO ANNOYING lately. I’ve somehow managed to guess the Taylordle correct the first time on two different occasions, which is a miracle. And Airportle is very frustrating because six guesses are not enough for how many airport codes there are in the world!!!

wishing: for Russia to stop invading Ukraine, UGH. I know we are all wishing for that. The news is heartbreaking, social media is heartbreaking. Everything feels heavy. Whenever I feel excited about something lately, there’s a small voice in the back of my head reminding me of Ukraine. There’s a weight on the world that I so hope is lifted sooner rather than later. 😩💔😭

What are you currently up to?