Dark smoke rises from burning phragmites beyond the walking dunes in Cape Henlopen State Park north of Gordons Pond. BY DENNIS FORNEY
Burn Boss Erich Burkentine and Mike Sethman, both of the Delaware Forestry Service, keep an eye on the progress of the prescribed burn Monday morning. BY DENNIS FORNEY
These Kubota all-terrain vehicles, customized for strategic fire-fighting, were brought to the prescribed burn as a precautionary measure. They are shown here atop the walking dune trail that connects the Herring Point area of Cape Henlopen State Park with the Gordons Pond area of the park. BY DENNIS FORNEY
Whether fighting a fire or controlling it for constructive purposes, it's smoky business. BY DENNIS FORNEY
Nikki Testa and Adam Keever use a blend of three parts gasoline and one part diesel fuel to start a fire line along the edge of the trail at the northern end of Gordons Pond. BY DENNIS FORNEY
A forestry service member uses the camera in his iPad to record some footage of the prescribed burn clearing out dry tinder in the understory. BY DENNIS FORNEY
Nikki Testa is with Delaware's Division of Parks. She has been trained in firefighting and prescribed burning techniques to be prepared for either wildfires or other burning needs that might arise in the state's public lands. She stands here with a canister of fire starter in front of a fire break mowed along a gut at the western edge of the prescribed burn area. BY DENNIS FORNEY
Fire works its way through brush beneath a variety of pines. BY DENNIS
This gives an overview of the larger area involved in the prescribed burn. This photo is made from atop the walking dune trail north of Gordons Pond and looking to the south toward the pond and the twin fire towers on the coast. BY DENNIS FORNEY
Keeping the public informed about what was going on this week, signs like this were posted at the north end of Cape Henlopen State Park near the Herring Point parking lot and also at the Gordons Pond area at the south end of the park. BY DENNIS FORNEY
Dark smoke rises from burning phragmites beyond the walking dunes in Cape Henlopen State Park north of Gordons Pond. BY DENNIS FORNEY
Burn Boss Erich Burkentine and Mike Sethman, both of the Delaware Forestry Service, keep an eye on the progress of the prescribed burn Monday morning. BY DENNIS FORNEY
These Kubota all-terrain vehicles, customized for strategic fire-fighting, were brought to the prescribed burn as a precautionary measure. They are shown here atop the walking dune trail that connects the Herring Point area of Cape Henlopen State Park with the Gordons Pond area of the park. BY DENNIS FORNEY
Whether fighting a fire or controlling it for constructive purposes, it's smoky business. BY DENNIS FORNEY
Nikki Testa and Adam Keever use a blend of three parts gasoline and one part diesel fuel to start a fire line along the edge of the trail at the northern end of Gordons Pond. BY DENNIS FORNEY
A forestry service member uses the camera in his iPad to record some footage of the prescribed burn clearing out dry tinder in the understory. BY DENNIS FORNEY
Nikki Testa is with Delaware's Division of Parks. She has been trained in firefighting and prescribed burning techniques to be prepared for either wildfires or other burning needs that might arise in the state's public lands. She stands here with a canister of fire starter in front of a fire break mowed along a gut at the western edge of the prescribed burn area. BY DENNIS FORNEY
Fire works its way through brush beneath a variety of pines. BY DENNIS
This gives an overview of the larger area involved in the prescribed burn. This photo is made from atop the walking dune trail north of Gordons Pond and looking to the south toward the pond and the twin fire towers on the coast. BY DENNIS FORNEY
Keeping the public informed about what was going on this week, signs like this were posted at the north end of Cape Henlopen State Park near the Herring Point parking lot and also at the Gordons Pond area at the south end of the park. BY DENNIS FORNEY
Delaware environmental and forestry personnel completed a prescribed burn in a remote area of Cape Henlopen State Park on Tuesday this week. The exercise involving a total of 24 acres demonstrated how divisions can work together to accomplish specific goals they would be unlikely to accomplish otherwise.
The forestry personnel, trained in fighting fires as well as controlling them for a sanitizing effect, brought out specialized equipment for the task including two customized Kubota all-terrain vehicles with 70-gallon water tanks and foam fire-fighting equipment. Those vehicles are designed to allow personnel to get into very remote areas such as the thickets at the northern edge of Gordons Pond where this week’s prescribed burn took place.
The burn was designed to take out dry and dangerous tinder that could cause larger wildfires. However, special care was taken to preserve larger pines, red maples and other trees. Personnel cleared large circles around specific trees of special interest to prevent fast-moving fires from creating fatal damage.
While the exercise will help remove potential fire problems and open up the area beneath the trees so a variety of native and noninvasive plant species have a better chance to thrive, the prescribed burn also gave personnel a chance to use their skills at setting up fire breaks and precisely controlling the movement of fire when it is being used as a tool.
Here is the press release issued Tuesday afternoon by the public relations staff of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control when the second day of the burn was under way:
LEWES (Feb. 28, 2012) – For the second day, DNREC’s Division of Parks and Recreation and the Delaware Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service are teaming up to conduct a prescribed fire on 24.2 acres in a remote area of Cape Henlopen State Park. The burn began yesterday, but had to be put on hold when humidity levels dropped too low. About 12 acres of the southernmost unit is being burned today, completing the prescribed burn.
“This will be the end of it today,” said Rob Line, Environmental Stewardship program manager with DNREC’s Division of Parks and Recreation. “Most of what’s left is phragmites - about 75 percent - and the rest is pine.”
A prescribed fire, unlike a wildfire, is an intentionally ignited fire set within limited and carefully defined weather conditions identified in a prescribed burn plan. Factors like fuel type, wind speed and direction, and air temperatures are critical factors considered in the plan.
Like yesterday, officials expect most of the smoke to travel out over the ocean, but Line said Rehoboth Beach residents might smell some smoke if winds shift to the south.
The main goal of the prescribed fire is to reduce the risk of forest wildfires by burning fine fuels such as pine needles, dead twigs and small dead branches, leaving larger woody debris unburned. Additional goals include reducing the overgrown shrub layer, to open the canopy to support state rare shade-intolerant herbs and grasses, and to consume dead phragmites canes that had been sprayed the previous fall, in order to enhance piping plover foraging habitat for young plovers.
The prescribed burn plan is designed to maximize safety and control, to effectively disperse smoke away from human populations and to accomplish the ecological objectives of the prescribed fire including habitat restoration. DNREC staff has been considering this measure for some time but the urgency of it was highlighted during site visits for planning the proposed Gordons Pond trail through the area. The burn will greatly improve habitat for vulnerable species in the vicinity of the new trail and help ensure public safety.
“This forest canopy needs to be opened up so that we can ensure the preservation of native species of rare plants, grasses and herbs along with the trees,” Line said. “This burn will start the restoration of these rare habitats.”
The prescribed burn is being coordinated by the Delaware Forest Service, which will provide key staff and conduct the burn. Today, 12 Forestry and Parks staff members are on site for the burn, along with four tankers of water.
Dark smoke rises from burning phragmites beyond the walking dunes in Cape Henlopen State Park north of Gordons Pond. BY DENNIS FORNEY
Burn Boss Erich Burkentine and Mike Sethman, both of the Delaware Forestry Service, keep an eye on the progress of the prescribed burn Monday morning. BY DENNIS FORNEY
These Kubota all-terrain vehicles, customized for strategic fire-fighting, were brought to the prescribed burn as a precautionary measure. They are shown here atop the walking dune trail that connects the Herring Point area of Cape Henlopen State Park with the Gordons Pond area of the park. BY DENNIS FORNEY
Whether fighting a fire or controlling it for constructive purposes, it's smoky business. BY DENNIS FORNEY
Nikki Testa and Adam Keever use a blend of three parts gasoline and one part diesel fuel to start a fire line along the edge of the trail at the northern end of Gordons Pond. BY DENNIS FORNEY
A forestry service member uses the camera in his iPad to record some footage of the prescribed burn clearing out dry tinder in the understory. BY DENNIS FORNEY
Nikki Testa is with Delaware's Division of Parks. She has been trained in firefighting and prescribed burning techniques to be prepared for either wildfires or other burning needs that might arise in the state's public lands. She stands here with a canister of fire starter in front of a fire break mowed along a gut at the western edge of the prescribed burn area. BY DENNIS FORNEY
Fire works its way through brush beneath a variety of pines. BY DENNIS
This gives an overview of the larger area involved in the prescribed burn. This photo is made from atop the walking dune trail north of Gordons Pond and looking to the south toward the pond and the twin fire towers on the coast. BY DENNIS FORNEY
Keeping the public informed about what was going on this week, signs like this were posted at the north end of Cape Henlopen State Park near the Herring Point parking lot and also at the Gordons Pond area at the south end of the park. BY DENNIS FORNEYEvent Details :
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