Balanced News: Controlled burns can provide years of protection against wildfires, new study shows

A new study conducted by researchers at Stanford University has found that controlled burns, or prescribed burns, can significantly reduce the risk of high-intensity wildfires. By analyzing 20 years of California wildfire data, the researchers found that the chances of a high-intensity fire dropped by 64% in the year following a low-intensity fire. Furthermore, low-intensity fires provided some degree of protection for at least six years. The study supports the use of controlled burns as a forest management tool and emphasizes the need to increase the scale of prescribed burning in California to prevent future wildfires.