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NWCG compliance ???
February 5th, 2010 Filed Under Blog
Should all prescribed burn managers be NWCG compliant? As a seventy-two year old burner I have a bias. NO NO NO !!! I can’t pass the physical endurance test. But I still burn regularly and “knock on wood” without incident. Do I use good technique that conform to most NWCG prescribed burning principles? Yes.
I am like many of the land owners and contract burner in the State of Alabama and across the south. In Alabama there are some 275,000 private land owners. They own 90+% of Alabama’s forest land. There are not enough agency of NGO burners to do the burning that needs to be done. Should the private sector burner be required to be NWCG compliant? I don’t think so. Many of them have been burning effectively, efficiently, without incident for many years. Why constrain them to a standard that while effective for many organizations is not necessarily effective or efficient for them.
Certified burn managers or for that matter any wildland burner should be trained in fire weather, fuels, fire behavior, smoke management, smoke screening, fire effects, and prescribed fire planning. They should adhere to basic principles. Can they learn those principles other than under NWCG standards? YES
Think about it. In the past how many prescribed burn “screw ups” have occurred at the hands of a “Red Carded” NWCG compliant practitioner. Are NWCG compliant burners immune to “stepping on their poncho”? Who did the Cerro Grandee burn? Who did the I4 burn in Florida? Who did the east Georgia burn that smoked in Atlanta a year or so ago. I don’t think NWCG compliant burners screw up more frequently than non NWCG compliant private land owners and independent contractors. Do you?
Should an individual be NWCG compliant to obtain a burn permit? NO, and until there is evidence that NWCG compliant burners are immune to screwing up they never should.
NWCG compliance is essential for large organizations that cooperate with one another on the fire scene. NWCG compliance has it place but not as a requirement for private land owners and independent burning contractors.
That is my opinion and I am sticking to it.
What say you?
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