A spate of recent fires in the American River Parkway, including one near Cal Expo on Monday that climbed dangerously into the trees and even jumped the river, has prompted some officials to wonder: Is it time to renew talk about prescribed burns?

The fires this summer have left patches of charred fields and singed trees in 10 or more places along the 23-mile parkway. This summer has been especially serious because the drought has left vegetation the driest on record, officials say.

Prescribed burns have long been controversial in the heavily used parkway, home to abundant wildlife and used by a million people annually. But proponents maintain that if fire experts don't do the burning under controlled situations, arsonists will have their way and cause untold damage.

The fire that began Monday, for instance, required 150 firefighters to control amid treacherous 30 mph winds. The blaze burned 16 acres of a grass field north of the river adjacent to Cal Expo.

Ember showers carried by the winds caused the fire to jump the river and burn 16 acres at Sutter's Landing Regional Park, the nature area that was once the city dump. It also jumped the Capital City Freeway and burned 6 to 7 acres in an orchard, according to Lloyd Ogan, a deputy chief with the Sacramento Fire Department.

Firefighters continued to spray water on the smoldering remnants of the fire Wednesday. The cause is under investigation. Officials say it could be as simple as a cigarette thrown from an automobile on the freeway overpass.

Ogan says prescribed burning and the prescribed thinning of scrub brush would clear so-called "ladder fuels" that carry blazes into the tree canopy.

"There are specific areas we would like to target," Ogan said.

"It would require an ongoing effort. It's a forestry management issue."

But he noted that prescribed burns have not been done for many years and that changing the policy would require cooperation from several different agencies. There are also air quality issues to consider.

"That's going to be a challenging task for us," Ogan said.

The Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District, which answers calls on the parkway east of Howe Avenue, does annual burns in a field in Rancho Cordova but only for training purposes.

"We did do some burning for weed abatement and training about a decade ago, but that was sort of a different world back then," said Capt. Jeff Lynch.

Lynch said his department has no plans to do prescribed burns.

"The American River is a pristine jewel of the Sacramento area and there are many citizens that utilize that area," he said.

"Other than training purposes, we do not want to intentionally blacken and take away the beauty of that area."

Some who work with wildlife and plant life say burning under controlled conditions may be the best answer, noting that arson fires can cause far more damage than prescribed burns.

"We are hoping to work Sacramento Metro Fire to have them develop some strategies to do some (prescribed burns," said Marilee Flannery, director of the Effie Yeaw Nature Center. "This area has suffered. There's too much non-native growth. It's taking over where the native plants have been."

Flannery noted that American Indians, long before settlers arrived in California, routinely performed a version of prescribed burns for the health of wild vegetation.

Guy Galante, a nature photographer and the education director of Soil Born farm, which borders the parkway in Rancho Cordova, says a fire in mid-July could have wiped out the farm if not for the quick thinking of staff members who grabbed water hoses and rushed to douse the grasses along the perimeter.

Regarding prescribed burns, Galante, who is working on a photo book about the parkway's wildlife, said, "From an aesthetic standpoint, it doesn't look good, but from an ecological standpoint, it's probably necessary. I don't really see them as bad."

Call The Bee's Blair Anthony Robertson, (916) 321-1099.