1.   By conducting burns when humidity is high and temperatures are low, a fire can be shaped and directed without the risk of losing control, he said.

2.   He said such burns were conducted over millions of acres every year, by the Forest Service, the Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management.

3.   The EPA had been considering conducting the burn in March because it wanted to complete it before the beginning of the fire season.

4.   The park workers conduct the burn with great caution, but not without some fun.

5.   To reduce the danger, he said, the state tries to conduct controlled burns on all of its lands an average of every two to three years.

6.   What appeared to slow the fire down, Forest Service officials said, were areas where controlled burns had been conducted in recent years.

7.   But high wind prevented crews from conducting controlled burns on the east or west sides of the fire as they had hoped.

8.   Finally, biologists hope to conduct controlled burns to restore the species.

9.   She said her subcommittee would hold a hearing into the decision to conduct the burn.