Firebreaks at Cedar Point

Firebreaks being established at Cedar Point.

NPS

Quick Facts

Location:

30.44463, -81.46958

You may have noticed what appears to be a roped off trail over there. Is it a maintenance path to a ranger station? Maybe a flooded trail? An amazing view rangers are hogging all to themselves? No, that is a fire break. Firebreaks, also called fireguards or fuel breaks, usually define the perimeter of a prescribed fire or controlled burn and help contain the fire. Firebreaks are areas that lack combustible fuels along the perimeter of a burn area. Firebreaks are important considerations during planning, preparation, and implementation of prescribed fires. Although many firebreaks are capable of stopping back fires or other low intensity fires, most firebreaks are not designed to stop head fires by themselves. Several types of firebreaks exist, some natural like streams or gullies, others made by people like roads or the cleared path you see today. Most prescribed fires utilize more than one type of firebreak. You have already learned how fire is essential to the pine flatwood habitat, but did you know that the importance of fire is a lesson the National park Service had to learn? From 1872 when Yellowstone became the world’s first national park until the mid-twentieth century, land managers were dedicated to stopping what they saw as destruction of forests by fire. While some scientists and land managers had recognized the value of fire on the land and advocated its use, it was not until the 1960s that this view resulted in a change of National Park Service policy. Fire is part of a cycle in most ecosystems. It reduces dead vegetation, stimulates new growth, and improves habitat for wildlife, many of the details park visitors imagine when they think of a national park. With fire suppression, fire was removed from the cycle and ecosystems began to get out of balance. After nearly a century of no fires, fuels, such as dead trees, pine needles, leaf litter, and shrubs built up to unnatural levels in forests. In these cases, restoring fire is no easy task; sometimes it takes additional work such as manual removal of the debris before the fire cycle can begin again. During your park visit do you hope to see healthy wildlife, open panoramic vistas, forests penetrated by sunlight, or verdant grasslands? If so, then wildland fire was also likely part of that picture whether you knew it or not.