There was a time when prescribed fire practices — a planned, controlled application of fire to reduce wildfire risk, improve wildlife habitat and restore ecosystems — were common in eastern Oklahoma. But for whatever reason, the discipline fell out of favor.
Heath Orabanec, retired fire chief for Sequoyah County Rural Fire Protection District 1, would like to see that practice return.
“Back in the day, they’d do it every year,” Orabanec recalls from his childhood.
“And back in the early days, the Indians always burned the fields off,” District 1 Sequoyah County Commissioner Jim Rogers adds.
“We burned all our land. When I was growing up, we had 100 acres every year. From the time we were small all the way up, we were out there helping burn. And that’s the good thing about this is we can get young people involved, make them understand the value of it,” Orabanec says of the push to revive the annual prescribed fire practice.
It was November 10 that John Weir, “the OSU state fire guru,” spoke at an initial meeting to generate interest in returning to the practice. The more than two dozen attendees from three counties learned about the benefits of prescribed fire for wildlife, cattle and land health, and the potential for state and federal funding — $20 per acre — to support landowners, as well as the development of a prescribed burn association to provide necessary help. In addition, Orabanec says a nonprofit organization has been identified that will help fund equipment for prescribed burns, “so we would have our own equipment here, located in the state, where we could take it from landowner to landowner.”
That’s why Orabanec is looking to conduct an additional meeting in December in anticipation of even greater interest.
“We had a pretty good turnout for it, but we’re looking at trying to get some more people involved,” Orabanec says, emphasizing that prescribed fire practices are good for landowners “whether you own three acres or 300 or 3,000.”
“Doing prescribed fire kind of helps make the community a little more firewise with things, and helps some of the underbrush. It’s good for wildlife, it’s good for cattle, everything,” he says. “We’re trying to get the community a little bit safer and get the land healthy and clean again.”
Orabanec also noted that part of the prescribed fire practice is to help eradicate the red cedar “that is so detrimental to the land.”
Key practices for prescribed burns include creating a detailed burn plan, assessing and adhering to specific weather conditions (low temperature, moderate humidity and wind speed), notifying appropriate authorities, and utilizing proper safety precautions and ignition techniques.
Benefits of prescribed burns include:
• Forest management: Clears underbrush, reduces the risk of high-severity wildfires, improves forest health by reducing competition and enhances habitat for wildlife.
• Grassland and prairie restoration: Removes debris, suppresses invasive species, rejuvenates native plants and improves soil health.
• Habitat improvement: Creates diverse habitats by opening the canopy and promoting new vegetation, which benefits a variety of species.
