Southwest Oregon | Medford BLM
Fuel Treatment Effectiveness 2013 & 2014 Wildfires
The wildfire seasons of 2013/14 provided significant opportunities for hazardous fuel treatments to be put to the
test on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management
(BLM), Medford District. Eight wildfires burned across thousands of acres, intersecting approximately 2,500 acres of
areas previously managed for hazardous fuels within the
Wildland Urban Interface (WUI).
Photo by Y.Gallimore — Stratton Creek Fire
Fuel Treatment Objectives:
 Reduce fuel loadings, and negative post-fire effects (e.g. widespread canopy mortality) in the
event of a wildfire.

Provide strategic locations for fire personnel to safely engage a wildfire, increasing efficiency and
ease of suppression operations.

Improve overall forest health and modify stands to a condition which can be easily maintained with
the periodic use of prescribed fire, promoting long-term fire resilience.
Hazardous fuels treatments intersected by wildfires in 2013 & 2014 :
Enhanced public and firefighter safety
Allowed Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) and other suppression resources to safely
use direct attack methods due to the strategic location of treatments, increased ability for
retardant to penetrate a thinned canopy, and for dozers to move easily through the stand.
Slowed fire spread and reduced flame lengths (<4 ft), allowing firefighters to safely im-
plement direct and indirect suppression tactics
Reduced fire severity and fire effects on vegetation and soil in treatments as old as twelve
years, and resulted in less extreme fire behavior compared to untreated areas
Altered fire advancing from adjacent areas to mostly surface fire, with occasional torching
Created fire effects comparable to maintenance prescribed fire, such as reduced surface
fuels, ladder fuels, and vegetation density
These results are consistent with a growing body of evidence which indicates that well designed and
maintained fuel treatments can have very positive results on wildfire effects and suppression capabilities.
August 2014 Medford BLM Fire & Fuels
Left — Previously
treated area resulted
in surface fire - Photo
by S. Queen-Foster.
Right — Fire line
(rehabilitated with
brush) placed adjacent to treated area
(left side) - Photo by
Mike Main
For More information contact Jena DeJuilio
Medford BLM — [email protected]