Fire is Medicine: What Prescribed Burns Can Teach Us About Public Service Design and a Trauma-Responsive Design Practice

This blog post was originally shared as a LinkedIn article on November 19, 2024.

TL;DR: Prescribed burns are planned fires rooted in safety and intention. They offer powerful lessons for public service and trauma-responsive practice. By addressing harm with precision, collaboration, and care, prescribed burns restore balance and create space for renewal.

This weekend, I read Jennifer Pahlka's Substack post, followed by her LinkedIn newsletter on Monday morning about Controlled burns, mega fires, and public service now. Her reflections on controlled burns and public service left me considering how we approach harm, healing, and renewal in the systems we design for the public and the care we offer in trauma-responsive work.

However, Jen highlighted something I’ve been mulling over the last 48 hours: the distinction between controlled and prescribed burns. The National Park Service describes prescribed burns as planned fires designed to achieve specific management objectives under carefully defined conditions. This subtle but critical distinction is sticking with me.

Let's dig into this a bit more.

A prescribed burn is more than fire under control — it’s fire with intention. Each burn is governed by a prescription, a scientific plan that accounts for safety, environmental conditions, and specific goals. These burns might create diverse habitats, support endangered species, or reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires. They do not just address overgrowth. The plan is that they restore balance, biodiversity, and resilience.

Reflecting on this, I see clear parallels between public service and trauma-responsive practice. Both demand intentionality, planning, and respect for the systems they aim to serve. They are also rooted in addressing the accumulation of harm — whether in ecosystems, communities, or individuals—in ways that foster healing and renewal.

Prescribed Burns and the Work We Do in Designing for the Public

In public service, we often encounter systems burdened by “overgrowth”: outdated policies, inequitable practices, and systemic barriers that fuel and perpetuate cycles of harm. In trauma-responsive practice, this overgrowth manifests as unprocessed pain, structural inequities, and the emotional toll of navigating systems that were never designed for or with care.

A prescribed burn is a metaphor for addressing this overgrowth with precision and purpose. It’s not a simple act of clearing. Instead, it’s a methodical, collaborative, bottom-up process that creates the space for restoration, ensures safety, and centers the ecosystem's needs.

In public service and trauma-responsive practice, prescribed burns remind us of the importance of intentionality. They show us how to approach harm with care, balance urgency with thoughtfulness, and design for lasting renewal (and prevention of harm in the first place) rather than temporary, reactive fixes.

The Roles in Prescribed Burns, Public Service, and Trauma-Responsive Practice

Prescribed burns, like public service and trauma-responsive practices, rely on a network of roles to ensure the process is safe, effective, and restorative. Inspired by both the Berkana Institute's Two Loops Model and Deepa Iyer's Social Change Ecosystem Map, here’s a rough take on how these different roles might align:

• The Prescribers (Planners): In a prescribed burn, these are the people who design the plans, carefully balancing safety, goals, and conditions. In public service, the policymaker or program lead takes a systemic, long-term view. In trauma-responsive practice, the practitioner co-creates a framework that centers on safety, trust, and empowerment.

• The Initiators (Ignition Specialists): This role lights the spark, starting the burn at the right moment and in the right conditions. In public service, the leader or advocate takes the first step toward change. In trauma-responsive practice, the person guides the naming and addressing of stress, overwhelm, and trauma.

• The Protectors (Safety Officers): In a prescribed burn, this person ensures the safety of the team and surrounding areas. In public service, this role ensures initiatives do not exacerbate harm, particularly for vulnerable populations. In trauma-responsive practice, the practitioner has a holding practice and boundaries to ensure emotional and psychological safety.

• The Observers (Fire Behavior Monitors): This person monitors the fire’s progression, adapting the plan as conditions evolve. In public service, the observers are the team assessing the impact of a program and pivoting as needed. In trauma-responsive practice, the observers are the practitioners and community members attuned to emotional responses and adjusting strategies to meet the moment.

• The Community (Ecosystem): The people or systems we serve are central to this work. Whether in prescribed burns, public service, or trauma-responsive practice, lived experience and community leadership must shape the process, ensuring relevant and restorative solutions.

The Lessons from Prescribed Burns

Prescribed burns can teach us the importance of intention and precision in addressing harm. They are not reactive; they are responsive. They are rooted in clearly understanding the ecosystem and its needs and balancing bold action with careful stewardship. The following are the anticipated lessons that come to mind:

1. A Clear Prescription is Essential: Prescribed burns are guided by specific, pre-defined objectives. This means policies must be grounded in transparent, evidence-based goals in public service. Trauma-responsive practice means engaging with individuals and communities with clarity, intention, and shared purpose.

2. Safety is Foundational: Every prescribed burn begins with a plan to ensure the safety of people, ecosystems, and surrounding areas. In public service, safety might involve equity checks, community engagement, and shared accountability measures. In trauma-responsive practice, psychological and emotional safety allows restorative healing to occur.

3. Collaboration is Non-Negotiable: Prescribed burns rely on a team of experts with distinct but interconnected roles. Public service, too, requires a partnership between policymakers, community leaders, and those directly impacted. Trauma-responsive practice demands shared power and co-creation with those experiencing and navigating the trauma.

4. Restoration is the Goal: A prescribed burn is not about clearing for the sake of clearing but for restoring balance and resilience. Public service should work toward creating systems that meet needs equitably and sustainably. A trauma-responsive practice seeks to co-create restoration by centering agency and trust. It is not just about repairing harm but about fostering conditions for individuals and communities to rebuild on their terms in ways that honor their lived experience and resilience.

5. Reflective Practice Guides the Future: Reflective practice reminds us that there is room for new possibilities and renewed hope even in times of disruption. Rebecca Solnit captures this beautifully in A Paradise Built in Hell:

"Disasters are ... terrible, tragic, and deeply disruptive. But the disruptions open a space in which new possibilities and new hopes emerge."

Prescribed burns — and the care and intention they require — remind us of this potential, showing how deliberate action clears the way for restoration and growth. They offer potent lessons for public service and trauma-responsive work, showing how to move through discomfort and disruption toward renewal.

A Path Toward Renewal

Jen’s piece reminded me of the weight public servants carry as they navigate systems designed to resist change. It also reminded me that renewal is possible. Prescribed burns show us a way forward, not through indiscriminate clearing but intentional, responsive action that creates space for something new and better.

In trauma-responsive public service, this means policies that balance urgency with care, addressing root causes rather than symptoms. It also means interventions that meet people where they are and foster their strengths and resilience. This will require a commitment to the long, slow work of restoration.

An Invitation to Reflect

The distinction between controlled and prescribed burns seems critical to our thinking about the work ahead. What are we doing to create the conditions for renewal, flourishing, and balance? We must figure this out. This is the work of public service and trauma-responsive practice.

So, how are you tending to the ecosystem you work and live within? Whether through prescribed action, careful observation, or a holding practice for safety, your proactive and protective measures matter. These practices can prevent destruction while creating conditions for care and (new) growth.

I'm committed to navigating the complexities of systems that resist change while remaining hopeful for a better future. Let’s keep learning from each other and doing the work.

Further reading

For those interested in exploring these ideas further, here are some resources that expand on the themes of cultural burning practices, trauma-responsive care, and holding environments:

• Prescribed burns have a deep and rich history, which I did not go into detail here. Learn more about Tribal and Indigenous fire traditions, cultural burning practices, and the Cultural Fire Management Council.

• In early 2022, I gave a talk to the New York City Service Design Network (SDN) chapter entitled Trauma-Responsive Design Research: A New Model for Change. Massive, ongoing thanks to Jeannie Joshi who captured the summary.

• My friend and colleague Melanie Kahl invited me to speak in her class recently, and she referenced Rebecca Solnit's book A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster, which fits here. The quote above is from Solnit's book.

• Learn more about holding practices and the holding environment in this article, Understanding of Holding Environment Through the Trajectory of Donald Woods Winnicott.