When the Boise National Forest conducts a prescribed burn, it goes through five phases: pre-burn planning, burn preparation, burn execution, burn monitoring, and evaluation."Prescribed burns are a really effective and efficient way for us to remove hazardous fuel from the landscape," said Ryan Shannahan of the Boise National Forest. "Fire is most likely going to be the easiest way to remove potential fuels." WATCH: Check out a prescribed burn near Garden Valley The Boise National Forest performs a prescribed burn near Garden ValleyThe planning phase for the Poorman Prescribed Burn in a four-square-mile area east of Garden Valley started last summer.Wildfire managers spent the last few weeks monitoring weather conditions, and then the operation began by securing a perimeter using topographical features."Ridge lines are really easy to hold, and we will use roads, and sometimes we might use a water body if there is a really good creek," said Shannahan. "If none of those are available on the ridge, we start on the outside with hand lines, and then we can burn the rest of the unit." Safety has to be a top priority. Fire managers need to control the fire, but they also want to maintain the safety of their crews, so they use helicopters and drones. Drones can provide several different uses without putting any personnel at risk. The machines can provide surveillance, hover lower than helicopters and even ignite fires.ALSO READ | How aerial efforts played a major role in fighting the Valley Fire"They are really good at surgical stuff; we can focus them on really small pieces that a helicopter isnt accurate on," said Shannahan, "Drones augment helicopters; they dont replace them, but they do things helicopters cant." Fire managers will conclude the prescribed burn on May 2 if the weather conditions cooperate. Crews will then enter the monitoring phase to keep an eye on the fire and make sure it stays in the box, or its predetermined boundaries. This area would be less likely to ignite, helping firefighters this summer if a large wildfire sparks near Garden Valley."We will use logging to remove fuel from a dense forest to thin that out, and we will use chainsaws to do non-commercial thinning on smaller diameter trees," said Shannahan. "But, prescribed fire is the best way to remove all the accumulation on the ground."RELATED | Fire lookouts have a long history to help fight wildfires in IdahoWildfire managers want to remind the public not to fly drones near wildfires and to be careful as we enter the wildfire season. Idaho News 6 asked Shannahan what he expects this year with the low snowpack, and he said we will have to wait and see, but his crew with the Boise National Forest will be ready. ...read more read less