Controlled burn helps area wildlife

Most people go for a drive, have a picnic or barbecue, or just take it easy outdoors on a

Sunday when the weather is perfect. Not Fort Jackson's environmental division -- they go

out and start fires.

After months of planning and coordination, 10 people from the Directorate of Public Works, Environmental Division headed into the woods to safely burn 3,397 acres of underbrush in the east impact area on post on Mother's Day, May 8. It was the largest controlled burn done at any one time on post.

Prescribed burns here support the training mission, are healthy for local flora and fauna,

and can even save lives and prevent property damage.

Doug, Morrow, Chief of the Environmental Division's Wildlife Branch said, "If we don't burn the impact area under good conditions, it will burn under possibly unfavorable conditions -- and that's what we don't want."

"This area burns almost every year, whether it's started by us or by various munitions,

such as white phosphorus, during training," said Ian Smith, the environmental specialist in charge of controlled burns on post.

Smith, who coordinated the event, made calls to get a burn number, weather report, and fire condition report prior to the team heading out. DPW also had to notify the Federal Aviation Administration as well because of expected smoke.

The team, using all-terrain vehicles, lit fires on the inside of fire break roads that surrounded

the marked area, creating a boundary marked by smoke that would be easily visible from the air.

They also closely patrolled the area in trucks with water and other fire suppression equipment, closely keeping an eye on the low spreading flames.

That wilderness area contains many species of flora and fauna to include endangered Red Cockaded Woodpecker clusters. But, it is not a place where people tread due to unexploded ordnance in the area from years past. The Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit has cleared paths in some areas where access is necessary to attend the wildlife.

"The southeast has historically burned for thousands of years, so the plants and animals here evolved with fire," said Smith. "The endangered Red Cockaded Woodpecker relies on fire to keep their habitat in the long leaf pine stands viable and healthy."

After the fires were burning around the edges of the east impact area, a helicopter, contracted by Fort Jackson, arrived on site the crew dropping small incendiary spheres, called "ping pong" balls in a grid pattern. The small plastic balls, filled with potassium permanganate, were injected with glycol by a mechanical device before being ejected from the helicopter.

An immediate chemical reaction begins in the spheres and once on the ground, the chemicals ignite the plastic, spreading the fire on the ground.

Fire spread throughout the area as the crew continued to circle around looking for "snags" (dead trees that may burn and topple), and any other burning debris that might cross the fire break road.

The burn started just before 10 a.m. and was virtually burned out by 2 p.m. The crew was happy as the burn had gone well, with no issues as they headed off to clean equipment and prepare for the next one.

The post has between 30 and 40 wildfires a year, Smith said, while controlled burns used to mitigate the wildfires totaled 15,500 acres this year.