The “window” has opened for lighting prescribed fires on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, but forest officials want to prevent the resulting smoke from wafting through real, rather than figurative, windows.

This fall’s prescribed fire strategy calls for burning in areas farther from, or downwind from based on prevailing winds, populated areas such as Baker City.

Wallowa-Whitman fire managers also coordinate daily with the Oregon State Smoke Forecast Center in deciding where, or whether, to ignite fires, said Peter Fargo, public information officer for the 2.3-million-acre forest.

Each year during the spring and fall, forest managers wait for conditions conducive to prescribed fire. This window of opportunity opens when the ground is not so damp that flames won’t spread, but neither so dry that the fire would burn too hot or move too quickly.

The Wallowa-Whitman, along with the neighboring national forests in the Blue Mountains, the Umatilla and Malheur, use prescribed fire to accomplish multiple goals, chief among those reducing the risk of summer wildfires — a literal example of fighting fire with fire.

Prescribed fires can curb the wildfire risk by burning, under controlled conditions, some of the logs, limbs and other combustible debris on the ground that could feed a summer blaze.

Controlled burns also kill some of the younger, shorter trees that can serve as “ladder fuels” — giving flames a route from the ground to the crowns of the tallest trees.

Prescribed fires can also stimulate the growth of fire-tolerant trees and shrubs, and increase the amount of grass and other forage for wildlife, according to the Wallowa-Whitman.

Although forest officials usually can’t say for certain where prescribed fires will be lit, because the decision to burn is heavily influenced by weather, the Wallowa-Whitman has created an interactive online map that shows areas that could be burned, as well as places that are either burning currently or likely to be burned soon.

A link to the map is available on the forest’s website, https://www.fs.usda.gov/wallowa-whitman/

On Monday afternoon, forest crews ignited piles of trees and limbs in the Anthony Lakes area.

The following areas on the Whitman Ranger District could be burned this fall:

• Foothills, 350 acres, 4 miles west of Baker City

• East Face, 350 acres, 15 miles west of North Powder

• Deer, 750 acres, 1 mile northeast of Sumpter

• Union Miners, 500 acres, 2 miles north of Phillips Reservoir

• Mile 9/Sheep, 500 acres, 5 miles west of Unity

• Goose, 1,000 acres, 17 miles northwest of Richland

• Barnard, 250 acres, 6 miles northwest of Halfway

• Sparta, 250 acres, 2 miles north of Sparta

• Little Dean, 500 acres, 1 mile south of Phillips Reservoir

• Broman, 500 acres, 8 miles northwest of Unity

• Pine Valley, 500 acres, 5.5 miles north of Halfway