Muscatine County landowners now have an easy way to acquire any equipment they would need for starting a prescribed fire.
On Friday, March 7, the Nature Conservancy staff delivered the county’s new fire cache to the Muscatine County Conservation Board’s Saulsbury Bridge Recreation Area. The cache was then moved to Discovery Park in Muscatine, where it will be stored when not in use.
Muscatine County’s cache includes prescribed fire specific tools such as drip torches, flappers, council rakes, backpack water sprayers, a kestrel weather system, and personal protective equipment.
The fire cache can be reserved for up to four days at a time, free of charge, and can easily be loaded into most vehicles. Residents are asked to be mindful of fuel that may be present in some of the equipment.
“We are very excited to have a fire cache in Muscatine County,” Katie Hammond from Muscatine County Conservation said.
“Safety is extremely important while conducting prescribed fire and the proper clothing and tools are expensive for private landowners to purchase. We hope that by loaning out this equipment and personal protective equipment, that people will be able to conduct prescribed fires on their own properties safely, and thoughtfully.”
Prior to this, Louisa County was the closest county with a fire cache, first getting one in 2006. Both counties had their caches funded by the Nature Conservancy and grant assistance. The Nature Conservancy is part of the Great Rivers Alliance of Southeast Iowa, a group made up of conservation professions focused on improving biodiversity, protecting ecosystems and promoting good land stewardship in Iowa.
The cache is available only to landowners who have completed the Prescribed Fire Workshop for Landowners, which has been offered every other year since 2006 by the Great Rivers Alliance of Southeast Iowa. The class was recently held on Feb. 13 in Lee County. The fire cache is also available to people who have taken the Federal S130/190 Wildland Firefighting series of classes.
“I believe it is important to have a plan for anything you are going to burn so that you have had time to think about how the fire will move across the landscape,” Hammond said.
Through providing the Prescribed Fire Workshop, Hammond said she and her team hope to share their knowledge and experiences with fire with the county’s landowners.
“We strive to make sure people are making a burn plan that will reach their goals and objectives. We want everyone to be thinking about fire weather, fire behavior, topography, their burn crew, and fire breaks,” she said.
Those who qualify, and who are interested in borrowing items from the Muscatine County Fire Cache, can contact MCCB at 563-264-5922 or conservation@MuscatineCountyIowa.gov. To borrow items from the Louisa County Fire Cache, please contact LCCB at 319-523-8381 or conservation@LouisaCountyIa.gov.