A drip torch is used to fire a prescribed burn. 

Prescribed burns won’t stop or slow down every wildfire. They come with costs.

They come with the cost of firing them. They come with the cost of smoke. They come with the cost of planning and monitoring them. They come with the risk that they will burn out of control. They come with the knowledge that they must be done over and over again every few years.

But to reduce risk Oregon and the West, need more of them closer to where people live.

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat, has reintroduced his National Prescribed Fire Act.

It provides money. There’s $300 million for the Forest Service and Department of Interior to plan and burn. It comes with requirements to treat more acres. It comes with requirements that states allow larger burns. And there’s more.

Maybe this new bill will fare better after cities on the East Coast were blanketed last year by wildfire smoke.

Wyden could very well repeat what he said three years ago about his previous bill.

“These are not your grandfather’s fires,” he said. “They are bigger. They are hotter. They are more powerful.”

In 2023 the Forest Service burned more than it had before, nearly 2 million acres. Some scientists believe that is only a fraction of what should be done.

There are debates about the benefits of prescribed fire. But near where people live, done repeatedly, they will reduce some risk. Pass Wyden’s bill.