Burn Planning Resources
It is best practice to develop a burn plan. It is an important document that helps you think through the prescribed burn process, document your plan, and assists burn leaders in implementing a safe burn. A burn plan is submitted along with your permit application to Washington Department of Natural Resources.
How to Write a Burn Plan
A burn plan may look different across the country and between agencies and private landowners, however, there is generally consistency on the components that should be included. Although these resources are not from Washington, they are helpful guides that can assist you in developing your burn plan.
- Planning a Prescribed Burn (Prescribed Fire Basics Module, Oregon State University Extension
- Burn Plan for Prescribed Burning (Oklahoma State University Extension): This guide also includes an example burn plan.
Burn Plan Workshops may be held at various times through the year. Check our Events section for any upcoming trainings.
Burn Plan Template
The Washington Department of Natural Resources has a burn plan template for Certified Burners that is available for anyone to use and includes all the relevant components for the permit process. You can find that on DNR’s Certified Burner webpage under Resources on the right hand side.
Mapping
As part of burn planning, it will be helpful to create a map of your burn unit to support planning and implementation of your burn. There are several resources available online, both free and paid, that can assist you in making a map using GIS, satellite imagery, and other geographical layers. Here are a few suggestions to get started:
- Google Earth [Web-based, iOS, and Android]
- CalTopo [Web-based, iOS, and Android]
- Avenza Maps [iOS and Android]
Measuring Fuels
Measuring fuels within your burn unit is essential for procuring a permit from Washington DNR and is a critical part of burn planning and the monitoring process to determine whether we have met objectives of our burn.
The Fuels Module (Prescribed Fire Basics Modules) from Oregon State University Extension is a good starting place to learn more about fuels and their characteristics. It provides an overview that will clarify terms and make using fuel measuring techniques more understandable.
Fire Behavior Fuel Models and Photo Series
Fire behavior fuel models and photo series provide very quick, but very rough estimates of fuels based on standardized types of forests, shrub-lands, and grasslands.
- [Guide] Standard Fire Behavior Fuel Models
- [Website] Digital Photo Series
Photoload Sampling Technique
The Photoload Sampling Technique is a method to visually estimate surface fuels, comparing fuel conditions observed in the field with photoload sequence pictures. There are several helpful resources to get you started with this technique.
