Three structures and more than 300 acres were burned in May when a prescribed burn ignited by the U.S. Forest Service rapidly grew out of control, angering residents who questioned why the fire was started and left unattended in windy conditions. It had been a warm, dry and windy month, with more than a dozen red flag warnings issued in the four weeks before the burn was started on May 16.

The goal was to burn about 187 acres, “increase the resiliency and reproduction of native ponderosa pine s...