Prescribed burning set to return to Kelley Hill

By Nick DukeJanuary 13, 2015

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FORT BENNING, Ga., (Jan. 14, 2015) -- With January well underway, Fort Benning is in the midst of its peak season for prescribed burning of various areas on post.

Most prescribed burning occurs from December through the end of May, with site preparation burns conducted during the fall in order to prepare for tree planting.

Prescribed burning is conducted postwide on approximately 30,000 acres each year. Each training area is burned on a two- to three-year burn cycle with approximately a third of the installation receiving a burn each year.

Each year, prescribed burns are conducted in and around the Harmony Church, Kelley Hill and Sand Hill cantonment areas.

This year, prescribed burns will be conducted in the training areas surrounding Kelley Hill. These burns will produce smoke that may affect the hospital and Kelley Hill.

The hospital is located in the Upatoi Creek drainage and smoke cannot be prevented from affecting these areas because during the night and early morning hours smoke behaves similar to fog by settling into creek drainages and other low lying areas.

Stephen Hudson, the Land Management Branch's lead forester, said thanks to the postwide prescribed burning program, wildfires are roughly five times less likely to occur on Fort Benning.

"Prior to our burn program, there were a little over 500 wildfires annually," Hudson said. "Since we instituted a three-year burn cycle of 30,000 acres a year, that's gone down to less than 100 annually."

Prescribed burning can reduce or prevent the accumulation of forest fuels such as leaves, pine straw, brush and downed woody debris. Without frequent fires, Hudson said, fuels will build up, making suppression efforts dangerous and difficult.

Prescribed burning also creates a mosaic pattern of burned and unburned fuel across Fort Benning, resulting in a checkerboard landscape of natural fire barriers.

This mosaic pattern of frequently burned areas aids wildland firefighters in suppression and containment activities and also reduces wildfire occurrence throughout the training landscape.

However, the prescribed burning program does more than just prevent wildfires.

"It ultimately benefits what we do here, which is supporting training missions," Hudson said. "It opens up the training areas and improves access and creates conditions that are conducive to training. ... It's definitely a benefit to wildlife. It creates a habitat and improves the ecosystem. It promotes a healthy forest, and also reduces the numbers of the animals we don't want on us, like ticks and chiggers.

"It also helps with asset protection. There are several assets and several training structures on the landscape and when fires are conducted in a controlled setting, we can protect those assets. When it's a wildfire, it can result in asset loss."

Prescribed burn precautions

With prescribed burning, every effort is made to control smoke. However, weather conditions can change, resulting in changes to smoke intensity and direction. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Southern Group of State Foresters agree, although some air pollution is generated by prescribed burning, the net amount is a relatively smaller quantity than produced by wildfires. The Land Management Branch recommends using these precautions during prescribed burns:

•If you are healthy, you are not usually at risk from short-term exposures to smoke. If someone in your Family has asthma, heart or lung disease, is an older adult or a child, consider taking precautions to reduce health effects from smoke.

•Add your name to the Fort Benning SMOKE notification email list at usarmy.benning.imcom.mbx.web@mail.mil to receive advance notice of planned fires on the installation and wildfire alerts.

•If it looks smoky outside, do not engage in strenuous, outdoor activity. Remain indoors with doors and windows closed.

•Keep heating, ventilation, and air conditioning filters clean and close fresh air intakes. If you must travel, use the re-circulate feature on your vehicle's HVAC.