Notifications

Prescribed burns are highly visible and may resemble wildfires. To prevent unnecessary concern and responses, notification of neighbors and public safety agencies should be done before starting the burn. The burn plan should list those to be notified and their phone numbers. The list should be called again after the burn is completed and mopped up, so if someone sees smoke later, they will know that the burn has likely escaped and will call for help.

Neighbors should be notified as a matter of common courtesy. It prevents unnecessary alarm and may encourage neighbors to work together on future burns. Fire departments must be notified to prevent unnecessary runs to false alarms. They are costly and dangerous to the firefighters. Keeping the fire department informed may be beneficial if they want to assist with the burn as a training exercise. In addition to the fire department, law enforcement agencies should be called to avoid needless response by their staff. In counties with a central dispatch system, all agencies can probably be notified with a single phone call.