Photo Essay: Using fire for fire prevention

Post personnel held a prescribed burn March 22, 2018, at an area on South Post at Fort McCoy, Wis.

Personnel with the Fort McCoy Directorate of Emergency Services Fire Department; Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch; Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security; and the Colorado State University Center of Environmental Management of Military Lands under contract with the post help coordinate each prescribed burn at the post.

Prescribed burns, generally, are done in the spring and fall seasons because weather conditions are most favorable at those times.

Prescribed burns also improve wildlife habitat, control invasive plant species, restore and maintain native plant communities, and reduce wildfire potential.

The first prescribed burn for 2018 took place in February and many have taken place since as weather permits, said Charles Mentzel, Fort McCoy forestry technician who oversees the prescribed burn program.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources defines prescribed burns as a way to "improve wildlife habitat, control invasive plant species, restore and maintain native plant communities and reduce wildfire potential."

Learn more about Fort McCoy online at www.mccoy.army.mil, on Facebook by searching "ftmccoy," and on Twitter by searching "usagmccoy."