MUNDS PARK - Using flaming kerosene, members of the Mormon Lake Hot Shots burn off leaves, needles and other underbrush from the forest south of this northern Arizona community. Their goal: keeping any wildfire in the area from becoming the next Rodeo-Chediski fire.
Despite continuing drought, Arizona has so far had its mildest year for wildfires since 2001. Officials say prescribed burns such as this one, covering 190 acres, are one reason for that.
"Prescribed fires are our insurance policy against catastrophic wildfires," said Brienne Untalan, a spokeswoman for the Coconino National Forest.
Through mid-October, 1,926 fires had burned 63,908 acres, according to the Arizona State Land Department.
That's a far cry from 2005, when 3,912 wildland fires consumed 762,112 acres, and 2002, when 3,081 fires burned 629,876 acres. The latter year included Rodeo-Chediski, which raged across a half million acres in eastern Arizona, destroying hundreds of homes.
Officials say a number of factors have combined to help Arizona this year, including quick responses from firefighters and prescribed burns that simulate the benefits of natural fires. They also point to greater awareness by those living in or near the forest, including efforts to remove fire threats such as wood piles and vegetation near homes.
"With the help of local fire departments and numerous resources, they were able to keep the fires very small," said Judy Wood, a spokeswoman for the Arizona State Land Department's Forestry Division.
Firefighters and air tankers have responded quickly to the 26 wildfires in the Coronado National Forest, keeping them to manageable size, according to Heidi Schewel, a U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman.
"There have been quite a few ignitions but we've been able to get resources to each one in timely manner," Schewel said.
Jason Clawson, assistant fire management officer for the Prescott National Forest, said prescribed burns reduce the chance that a wildfire will explode out of control.
"It definitely lowers the intensity of the fire and makes it easier for it to be defeated," Clawson said.
The 2006 Woody Fire at the edge of Flagstaff is an example of the benefits of prescribed burns, said Untalan, the Coconino National Forest spokeswoman. That fire threatened a subdivision, trailer park, businesses and the Lowell Observatory, but firefighters, helped by prescribed burns that had been conducted in the area, controlled it without loss.
"If there is nothing to burn, then there is nothing the wildfire will have to move forward with," Untalan said. "Had that area not been treated, the fire could have easily jumped the roads and gone straight to houses and businesses."
