Michael Galvin,a member of the Santa Barbara County Range Improvement Association in California, described the process of pre- scribed burning to control the growth of chaparral in Margaret Fuller's book entitled Forest Fires: An Introduction to Wildland Fire, Behavior, Management, Firefighting, and Prevention. The process is summarized here. If this brush is not treated, it will build up into a fire hazard that may cause fires that often burn explosively and defy easy control. Chaparral also absorbs much of the sparse rainfall in the area, and this causes the water reservoirs to reduce their levels.

Galvin explained that each year the association burns two thousand to four thousand acres at a time. First, they construct firebreaks with bulldozers, commonly around the edges of slopes, as wide as three- or four-lane roads. Where chaparral is too thick, they cut some...