How do controlled burns impact CSRA’s air quality?
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Fire and smoke are common around the CSRA this time of year.
Prescribed fires can cause issues with air quality sometimes, but they are a net good for our area.
“Control burning prescribed fire is probably one of the best tools we have in the wildlife and forestry industry,” said Travis Sumner with the South Carolina Wildlife Partnership.
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Sumner is a certified prescribed fire manager with the South Carolina Wildlife Partnership.
On Wednesday, he helped a landowner with a controlled burn.
Sumner says this time of year is perfect for getting these burns done.
“Trees are dormant. We are trying not to do any damage to the tree. The second part is we are trying to control unwanted hardwood growth from a timber standpoint since we are competing with timber. Third from a wildlife standpoint, we are trying to get rid of the trash, the litter and unwanted trees to promote grasses and shrubs which will be beneficial to all types of wildlife,” he said.
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Before they start the burn, they check the weather, making sure they have a good mixing height, dispersion index, wind direction, humidity and many other weather variables to know where smoke will go.
“It will show us what the smoke is doing during the day and then at night, so we dictate how long we are burning during the day to give that smoke time to get up, get out, disperse and be gone,” said Sumner.
Sumner says this is a busy time of the year for burning and it may be busier this year due to the weather.
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“We would have started a lot of this back in January and through February, but with all the rainfall, it has hampered it and you start to get to the end of February and ides of March where everyone is trying to burn on good burning days,” said Sumner.
Both the Georgia and South Carolina forestry commissions hold certified fire manager training courses throughout the year.
There are also other agencies like the South Carolina Wildlife Partnership to help private landowners with performing controlled burns.
Sumner mentioned that Hurricane Helene is also impacting burns, leading to more fuel on the ground and extra caution when starting a fire.
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