Governor proclaims March Prescribed Fire Awareness Month

 

At 7 o’clock Saturday night, February 27 the doors of Oconee’s administrative office complex in Walhalla were opened for the convenience of election workers carrying the results of the Democratic Presidential Primary voting.  But those in the meeting room smelled burning wood.  The smell emanated from a prescribed burn earlier in the day in the upper part of the county.  Prescribed, or controlled, burning is the skilled application of fire under planned weather and fuel conditions to achieve specific forest and land management objectives. And Governor Nikki Haley has proclaimed March 2016 Prescribed Fire Awareness Month in South Carolina. A coalition of state, federal and non-governmental land management organizations under the umbrella of the South Carolina Prescribed Fire Council, including the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR), requested the proclamation to raise awareness of the essential role that fire plays in both the stewardship of our natural resources and the protection of lives and property. The practice continues today under the direction of land managers who understand the appropriate weather conditions, fuel loads and atmospheric conditions for conducting such burns. These carefully applied fires are an important tool to reduce wildfires, maintain wildlife habitat, and keep the more than 13 million acres of forested land in South Carolina healthy and productive. While prescribed burning cannot stop all wildfires, it is the best management tool available for preventing larger and more frequent outbreaks.