Californians operating prescribed burns no longer will be held liable for suppression costs and other fire-related efforts if their burns get out of control under a new law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Oct. 6.
California has authorized intentional fires for years to improve agriculture and forest health, and to reduce wildfire threats by burning existing fuel.
“Controlled burning is a valuable tool in addressing the buildup of fuels in our parched forests and wildlands,” said bill author Sen. Bill Dodd (R-Napa) in a press release. “Its use can save us from ever worsening conditions caused by drought and climate change.”
The new law not only reduces liability for private burners approved by the state, but also automatically approves indigenous tribes who are “cultural burning.”
The liability is lost if the purpose of the burn is to reduce fire hazard, for cultural burning, or to maintain or restore ecology, forest health or agriculture.
A person who is grossly negligent will not receive the protection, and existing law still requires burns to be done with the approval of property owners.
The bill will not greatly affect fire management in the Inland Empire.
The Riverside County Habitat Conservation Agency does about two prescribed burns a year with CAL Fire, said Director Brian Shomo, but with an agreement that the state assumes all liability.
Shomo predicted that a bigger issue with prescribed burns than liability was a lack of burn resources, like CAL Fire personnel and equipment.
San Bernardino County does not have much privately managed land that would use burning, and air quality is not often good enough to prescribe a burn that would worsen the air, said David Haas, CAL Fire’s San Bernardino forester. CAL Fire itself maintains five to 10 acres a year in San Bernardino County through prescribed pile burns, but there have been no prescribed burns done with a private citizen that he can remember, he said.
Photo courtesy of CAL Fire
