Fire Regime 4: What You Should Be Doing

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Fire can cause stand replacement events in this Fire Regime area. 

Credit: Fred Baker, Utah State University, Bugwood.org

If you live in Fire Regime 4, you can be sure that fire will return someday, but it may not be anytime soon.  When it does come, it will be fierce.  Fires in these forests are big and hot, and almost always wind driven.  In the absence of drought and wind, you are relatively safe, but when conditions change fire is inevitable and there is little you can do about it, other than make sure your home is protected. 

The keys to home protection:

• Ensure that fuel continuity is broken around your house so that fire cannot reach the structure.
• Thin the forest around your house sufficiently to prevent radiant heat from igniting the home or something inside it.
• Keep gutters clean and openings well-screened to prevent embers from catching anything on fire.

Bark beetles

Because forests of Fire Regime 4 tend to be dominated by single species that grow in even-aged stands, they can reach a point where competition-induced stress makes the stand susceptible to tree-killing insects, such as bark beetles.  Keeping these forests thinned out and well-spaced can increase tree vigor, making it harder for a bark beetle infestation to get started. If your forest does get hit, chances are that a significant number of trees will survive, and any increase in fire hazard will be temporary.  But keep in mind that altering stand structure away from the norm may increase risk of wind throw.