Five Rivers MetroParks recently hosted a training to teach people how to safely participate in prescribed fires.
Prescribed fires are a land management technique with many benefits, from heating soil to promote seed germination to eliminating invasive plant species. It’s a practice that’s been used to manage land for time immemorial, and has even allowed for some environments to become adapted to fire.
The park system has held prescribed fire trainings for over 30 years. Currently, it’s only able to offer them a few times a year.
Held at Germantown MetroPark, park officials talked to attendees about terminology, anatomy of fires, equipment demos and more.
This training is required to be on the park district’s fire crew.
That crew will be led by Grace Dietsch, director of conservation at Five Rivers MetroParks. She’s been a state-certified burn boss since 2018, meaning she has the qualifications to plan and schedule prescribed fires. The training doesn’t provide certification, which requires completion of a four-day training course and prior participation in several prescribed fires.
But this training is a pathway to getting that experience. Crew members might be responsible for distributing the fire, containing the fire or extinguishing the fire. Training to be on a fire crew isn’t required by the state, Dietsch said.
“But we feel like they will have a better experience and do a better job and be safer if we put them through this level of training,” she said.
Most attendees were MetroParks staff. But some came from groups like Aullwood Audubon and Darke County Parks District. Dietsch said participants have come from as far as Upper Arlington, because the number of trainings available across the state are far and few between.
Carl Ketron, a park technician at Germantown MetroPark attended. He said he’s hoping to join as many prescribed fires as possible this season.
“I think the most important part was seeing all the planning that goes into these. It's not like we're just out there dumping kerosene on the lawns and letting them burn. There's a lot of tact involved,” Ketron said.
One of the training instructors, conservation technician Ben Crusoe, demonstrated the water sprayer. While each person should be responsible for their own equipment, Crusoe said, it’s all a team effort.
“There's just so many things that could go wrong. And if there's something small that you see right away, I mean just say it. We want to do this safely. We want to do it well and we want to do it professionally. And that starts with situational awareness,” he said
This spring, Five Rivers staff hope to conduct ten fires.
Dietsch said they’ll likely hold more trainings in the summer to prepare for the fall burn season.
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