to deliberately burn wildland fuels in either their natural or their modified state and under specified environmental conditions, which allows the fire to be confined to a predetermined area and produces the fireline intensity and rate of spread required to attain planned resource management objectives —synonym controlled burn, prescribed fire —see broadcast burn, smoke management; kinds of prescribed burn include the following:

—prescribed managed fire a fire ignited by management to meet specific objectives —note a written prescribed fire plan must be approved and all legal requirements (e.g., NEPA in federal situations) met prior to ignition

—prescribed natural fire a naturally ignited wildland fire that burns under specified conditions where the fire is confined to a predetermined area and produces the fire behavior and fire characteristics to attain planned fire treatment and resource management objectives This definition last updated 08/04/2008