The Oak Fire in Mariposa County, California has scorched more than 18,000 acres since it started last Friday. 

It comes several weeks after the start of the Washburn fire, which is now more than 85 percent contained. But both fires have threatened Yosemite National Park and the communities that surround it.

While the idea that fighting fire with fire might sound counterintuitive, it’s a practice with plenty of history and success in mitigating fire damage.

Yosemite’s sequoia trees, for example, remained relatively undamaged by this month’s Washburn fire. And many experts believe that’s due to the use of prescribed fires.

The Takeaway spoke with environment reporter Manola Secaira about the recent Washburn and Oak fires in California and how effective efforts to limit the damage of wildfires to forests have been so far this year.

The Takeaway was also joined by Scott Stephens, Professor of Fire Science at UC Berkeley, to understand prescribed fires and how they helped in California.