Prescribed fire is one of the most important tools used to manage fire today. A scientific prescription for the fire, prepared in advance, describes its objectives, fuels, size, and the precise weather and other environmental conditions under which it will burn. If it moves outside the predetermined areas or conditions suddenly change, the fire may be suppressed. The purpose of many prescribed fires is to reduce fuels. In areas where fires were routinely suppressed, fuels have built up, creating the potential for a much larger, hotter fire than would naturally occur.
Prescribed fires reduce ground fuels without harming larger trees.
Fires are also used to restore grasslands and habitat diversity. The miracle of the Guadalupes lies in the relict mountaintop forests and riparian woodlands. Along with isolated pockets of vegetation around desert springs, they contain a unique diversity of plants and animals that require special conditions that they themselves help to sustain. The long-term trend in this area is toward further desertification and eventual elimination of such special habitats. Very hot fires like the Pine Fire of 1993 greatly accelerate the process, because perimeters of woodlands are instantly destroyed.