The Hoot and Holler neighborhood near Winthrop had burned in the 2014 Rising Eagle Fire. Over the past year, many landowners in that neighborhood were contacted and their properties evaluated for implementing cross-boundary prescribed burns. A 1.5 acre unit was selected as a demonstration to residents to increase their comfort levels with prescribed burning. Thus, in this special hands-on meeting of the PBA, the core PBA group performed the burn while the residents witnessed the briefing and preparations, and observed the early stages of implementation, their questions being answered by a PBA leader. When the fire had progressed to the center of the unit, participants were given the opportunity to gain some experience handling a drip torch and hoses. The residents were then involved in mop up and patrolling duties over the following days. During the debriefing, participants expressed their gratitude for what had been done, reflected on what they had learned, and were looking forw...
The workshop was a 2-hour in-person/Zoom hybrid, bringing both locals and people from as far as OR together. A few people belonged to the Mt Adams PBA and a couple of people in OR were in the process of forming a PBA. We followed the WA Burn Plan template, giving participants insight into how to write effective burn plans, explaining the process of interacting with regulators and obtaining permits, and the need to balance careful mitigation and contingency planning with enough flexibility to adapt to changing conditions during implementation. Several people expressed their thanks for a great and useful presentation at the end.