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This Class is On Fire
In a unique class last fall, a group of students worked with fire professionals to set a portion of university land ablaze.
By Gabby Ferreira
Photos by Joe Johnston // Video by Dylan Head
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A student with a drip torch ignites a line of flame across a grassy hillside at Cal Poly’s Escuela Ranch campus.
Sunshine beamed down and a light breeze ruffled the tall, dry grass growing on the hillsides of Cal Poly’s Escuela Ranch as a bevy of heavy-duty vehicles from agencies including Cal Fire and the U.S. Forest Service parked near a staging area.
A crowd of firefighting professionals gathered with Cal Poly students around a large map to listen to an incident briefing: standard protocol when firefighters are battling a wildfire.
But that October morning, as natural resources and environmental management professor Ashley Grupenhoff took the floor to describe the day’s objectives, the group was getting ready to set a fire — not fight one.
Under the supervision of fire professionals from around the county, students ignite a prescribed burn on the grassy hillsides of Escuela Ranch.
It was a prescribed burn: a controlled, planned fire used to improve ecosystem health and reduce the risk of a destructive wildfire. This one was the result of more than a year of planning and partnership between Cal Poly, California State Parks, Cal Fire and the U.S. Forest Service.
This prescribed burn — the first of its kind at Cal Poly — was no ordinary lab session for the students in Grupenhoff’s senior project class in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences. The 24 students gained real-world experience with ignition techniques, fireline safety and ecosystem restoration. For many, this burn was the closest they had been to the front lines of fire management.
“My goal for this class is that students understand how to be good leaders and effectively understand both fire science and fire management,” Grupenhoff said. “We start with a more in-depth analysis of the ways fire can be beneficial, and then examine the nuanced trade-offs of applying prescribed fire and the science that supports those decisions.”
First image: Professor Ashley Grupenhoff gives the class instructions as they prepare for the controlled burn. Second image: Students tote their protective gear and tools as they head toward the burn site. Third image: Professional fire crews give direction as students begin using drip torches to ignite the dry grass.
In addition to executing a live burn, students are diving into research on the topic and learning what it takes to pull off a prescribed burn both in California and around the nation.
“We go over a burn plan, how to write one, law and liability and permitting and then they get to practice writing a burn plan in groups,” Grupenhoff said. “We also talk about the wildfire situation in California and how this landscape has changed and continues to change.”
Shelby Resnick, a fourth-year forestry and fire science student who hopes to become a registered professional forester in the industrial timber industry, said the class has given her a fuller picture of the work she eventually wants to do.
“I specifically took this class because I want to learn more about how we can use prescribed fire to prevent a lot of wildfire risks and fuel loading that’s currently occurring in a lot of our forests,” Resnick said.
A major component of the class is the burn plans that students write for a variety of specific points in Poly Canyon, which require them to make site visits, analyze the science behind the fuel types, and think through every possible contingency. At the end of the class, the groups will present their plans to a board of six different burn bosses from around the county and take constructive feedback.
The most valuable part of this class is not being given 100% direction but being given the tools to succeed on our own.
The on-the-ground experience students earned during the prescribed burn helped put into context how uncontrollable environmental factors can affect the goals of a burn plan.
“The goal of the burn was to reduce the grass thatch on that property, and due to conditions like higher humidity and higher fuel moisture than anticipated, the fire didn’t consume as much grass as I originally expected,” Resnick said, adding that the experience informed the way her group is writing their plan, which is for a similar fuel type.
“It really shows you how much hard work does actually go into firefighting, wildfire management and prescribed fire,” she said.
First image: A student holds a drip torch and prepares to ignite a new spot on the fire line. Second image: A student ignites a line of dry grass along a hillside at Escuela Ranch. Third image: A student monitors the fire line to ensure the blaze stays in control.
But ultimately, the most valuable piece of the class has been the ability to understand fire management and how to take action.
“There’s a wildfire crisis right now,” Grupenhoff said. “A lot of students have been impacted — their homes, their families — there’s a lot of fear regarding fire.
“We are being proactive about ways we can solve the wildfire crisis, which is a big toolbox of management techniques that students are exposed to in all of our classes,” she added. “Prescribed fire is a really successful and practical tool to use to prevent future wildfire severity and also promote ecosystem health and resilience.”
For Resnick, the Learn by Doing aspect of the class gives her confidence as she prepares to graduate.
“The most valuable part of this class is not being given 100% direction but being given the tools to succeed on our own.”
Students comb the hillside to ensure the blaze is completely extinguished.
Read more about the prescribed burn in the fall issue of Cultivate from the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences.
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