Seminars on planning and managing prescribed burning to prevent forest fires

In the context of the Life Landscape Fire project, the Regional Government of Extremadura held seminars in Cáceres on the planning and management of prescribed burning to prevent forest fires on the 9th and 10th of May.

The aim of these seminars, organised by the Junta de Extremadura’s Forest Management and Rural World Council, was to promote the use of prescribed fire as a forest management tool.

In addition to the CIM Viseu Dão Lafões, among other participants, these seminars were attended by the Regional Government of Galicia, the Government of Cantabria, the Regional Government of Castilla y León, the Forest Fire Prevention and Extinguishing Service of the Autonomous Community of Extremadura.

In recent decades, in Extremadura, the practice of prescribed burning has been introduced into the territory as a preventative fuel management tool, conciliating groups that promote the use of traditional fire, integrated into the training on fire extinguishing devices.

Within the development and implementation of prescribed burning plans, planning and management is one of the most complex areas, and it is important to share all the procedures, techniques and processes that the different entities follow to implement prescribed burning, such as: licences and authorisations; equipment and logistics; legal safeguards; meteorological conditions; costs, returns and benefits; incorporation of burning plans into forest management instruments for the prevention and conservation of habitats and species.