Legal Issues and the Liability of Rx Burning

Dan Dearborn-Fire Management Officer for the USFWS explained that it is critical that agencies work with their attorney general office to help develop policies that help limit the exposure to liability claims. If you are involved in making burn recommendations, or burn plans, it is a virtual certainty that eventually you will cause damage, and be sued for it. The correct set of policies, procedures and plans must be put in place to make it more likely that your agency can be defended. More importantly, a well-defined planning procedure will help reduce fire escapes and smoke hazard incidents.

Their agency uses a certification program for fire fighters, and burn bosses. Burn bosses must write the burn plan, and be present to supervise the actual burn. When working on private lands, their agency does not "light the match".

Mike Brandrup, State Forester said that the DNR does not presently have a burn policy, but will probably be working to develop one. DNR Forestry and Prairies Division would be willing to facilitate a burn school. He is also concerned about the special problems of the Urban Interface

Other comments were:

Iowa needs a burn school for volunteer fire departments and interested landowners.

Cooperative agreements between State and Federal Agencies could make developing a Program for Iowa much easier.

The Iowa Valley RC+D at Williamsburg is offering custom Rx burn services for fee.

The group feels that there is a very large but presently unmet demand for fee based custom burn services.

Volunteer fire departments might be able to use fee based prescribed burning as a moneymaking device for their department.

The USFWS has a strong private lands burn program, and may be able to find some funds for cost sharing of prescribed burns.

There is good Rx burning information on the World Wide Web. One good site is "Tall Timbers" out of Florida.

Restoration Notes, from the University of Wisconsin, Madison is a useful paper Journal

Community Colleges could be a good vehicle for burn training and certification.

The USFS uses a standardized plan format that contains 12 basic elements. Burn bosses must be certified to write plans, including biological objectives, and monitoring success.

USFWS has a fire management home page.

NRCS has similar fire management information on their web page.

There seems to be a clear conflict between county "Burn bans" and woodland burning. The woodlands are dry enough to burn only occasionally, but then a burn ban prevents the area being burned.

There is a need to establish a State Fire Council to help develop a statewide burning program.

An interagency cooperative agreement would allow agencies to assist each other, and share standards and guidelines.