Objective of landowner - One landowner may not want any type of fire on his land. He may be using fire to control certain diseases. For example, about two million acres of forest land are prescribed burned annually in the Southern States. Prescribed burning has been used since the 1930's and was applied experimentally before then. It was used by the Indians before white people arrived.
Fire is part of the ecology of many plant communities, notably the yellow pines.
In spite of the reduction in number of acres burned due to increasing technology available and additional suppression forces, wildfire is even a greater problem today. The number of fires is not decreasing. Our forests are more productive and are used more extensively for a variety of reasons. More fuel in most areas make the potential greater and the damage more severe. Also, prolonged drought and adverse weather conditions can also increase the potential of wildfire and resulting damage.