Audio by Sophia Ramirez
Photos by Isabel Stellato
Anchor Intro: Some Chapel Hill residents were left confused and concerned when a cloud of smoke descended on the town last Wednesday. The source of the haze was a controlled burn in Chatham County, a representative from Chapel Hill Fire Department confirmed in an email. It’s part of a larger effort to contain wildfires and manage vegetation. Carolina Connection’s Sophia Ramirez recently traveled to Pilot Mountain to learn more about how officials in North Carolina are using counterintuitive strategy.
SOPHIA RAMIREZ: IN NOVEMBER, THERE WAS A WILDFIRE IN PILOT MOUNTAIN, NORTH CAROLINA, ON THE TOWN’S NAMESAKE PEAK.
CARLA WILLIAMS: Oh these are blackberries! Is it raspberries that are thorny or blackberries that are thorny?
RAMIREZ: CARLA WILLIAMS, A RANGER AT PILOT MOUNTAIN STATE PARK, WENT OUT OUT TO SEE THE REGROWTH ON THE MOUNTAIN, FOUR MONTHS AFTER THE FIRE.
WILLIAMS: So, here we have some small raspberries coming up right after the fire. They normally wouldn’t be growing right here, but due to the fire burning through here, it’s allowed more sunlight to hit here on the ground, it’s gotten rid of some of their competitors around here… so we have some brand new growth coming up already.
RAMIREZ: WITH ONLY 5% TREE LOSS, MOST THOUSAND-ACRE FIRES DO A LOT MORE DAMAGE, WILLIAMS TOLD US BACK UP AT HER OFFICE.
WILLIAMS: You’re gonna hear me say, we got crispy. We didn’t get burnt, we just got crispy.
RAMIREZ: SHE CREDITS A PRESCRIBED FIRE CONDUCTED BACK IN 2019. ALSO KNOWN AS A CONTROLLED BURN, THAT’S WHEN STATE EMPLOYEES KNOWN AS BURN BOSSES EXECUTE A PLANNED FIRE SET UNDER CONTROLLED CONDITIONS.
THEY ARE SET FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS: SOME PLANTS AND ANIMALS DEPEND ON FIRES TO SURVIVE OR REPRODUCE, THE BURNS CAN BE USED TO TARGET INVASIVE SPECIES, AND THEY CAN REDUCE THE SEVERITY OF ANY FUTURE WILDFIRES LIKE THE ONE ON PILOT MOUNTAIN LAST YEAR.
WILLIAMS: It significantly lowered the intensity of this fire… When you start a controlled burn area you can see, especially if it has large layers of leaves piled up, it takes weeks for those to quit burning. Versus here… we were able to get that layer burnt down quicker due to that previous burn.
RAMIREZ: CONTROLLED BURNS ARE BECOMING AN INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT TOOL AS THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE LEAD TO MORE CATASTROPHIC WILDFIRES. HERE’S PHILIP JACKSON, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER FOR THE NORTH CAROLINA FOREST SERVICE.
PHILIP JACKSON: It’s likely that the intensity is going to continue to increase. Dramatic swings in wet and dry weather patterns are resulting in more intense fires. It’s resulting in more acres burning, and it’s resulting in more resources being needed to contain wildfires.
RAMIREZ: JACKSON SAID HUMAN ACTIVITY IS THE LEADING CAUSE OF WILDFIRES. THAT’S WHAT STARTED THE PILOT MOUNTAIN FIRE: CARELESS DEBRIS BURNING BY PARK GUESTS. BUT THERE’S NO BLANKET BAN ON BURNING, SO WHEN CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR WILDFIRE, PARK RANGERS JUST ASK FOLKS TO POSTPONE OPEN BURNING… EVEN THE BURN BOSSES.
JACKSON: When you have the dry, windy conditions with relatively high humidity… we’re telling people don’t burn, we’re not going to go out there and burn either. So a decrease in prescribed burning would also be a result.
RAMIREZ: AS THE NORTH CAROLINA FOREST SERVICES NOTED, NORTH CAROLINA HAS MORE WILDLAND-URBAN INTERFACE ACRES THAN ANY OTHER STATE IN THE COUNTRY. WHERE STRUCTURES AND OTHER HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IS INTERTWINED WITH UNDEVELOPED WILDLAND AND FOREST.
AND IT’S NOT ALWAYS EASY TO CONVINCE THE FOLKS LIVING THERE THAT PRESCRIBED FIRE IS A GOOD THING, SAID THOMAS CRATE, FIRE MANAGEMENT OFFICER FOR NORTH CAROLINA STATE PARKS.
THOMAS CRATE: I mean, we spent 60-70 years telling people that fire was bad and then all of a sudden we’re kind of changing our direction of, well, fire is actually good for the management of the landscape.
RAMIREZ: SOME RESIDENTS ARE CONCERNED ABOUT AIR QUALITY OR THE SMELL OF THE SMOKE. OTHERS ARE NERVOUS ABOUT A PRESCRIBED FIRE GETTING OUT OF CONTROL, WHICH ACTUALLY DID HAPPEN ON PILOT MOUNTAIN IN 2012. CRATE WAS PART OF THE TEAM THAT INVESTIGATED THAT FIRE.
CRATE: What folks used to do is … light up at the top and let it burn down. So one of the issues… in 2012 is instead of just… following the landscape and do it’s thing, the park system tried to just used the trails and roads out there. And it’s difficult to contain it.
RAMIREZ: TYLER CHILTON, ONE OF THE OTHER JOURNALISTS ON THIS ASSIGNMENT, IS FROM PILOT MOUNTAIN. HE SAW THE MOST RECENT FIRE FROM HIS GRANDMOTHER’S HOUSE IN NOVEMBER.
TYLER CHILTON: It’s just devastating to see one of the natural landmarks of what makes this town is just burning and… I don’t think anyone wants to admit it’s going to be part of our new ecosystem here.
RAMIREZ: BACK ON PILOT MOUNTAIN, RANGER WILLIAMS WENT UP TO THE LOOKOUT POINT. IT WAS EERIE LOOKING DOWN THE SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN – THE GROUND LOOKED NAKED WITHOUT LEAVES TO COVER IT AND SOME OF THE TREE TRUNKS ARE SCORCHED. BUT THE TREES WERE MOSTLY INTACT.
WILLIAMS: I understand the… despair to see it on fire. Because nobody wants to see anything on fire. But if we can do it where our ecosystem can be a lot healthier… well that’s just communicating that with the public.
RAMIREZ: CRATE, WILLIAMS AND JACKSON ARE ALL PART OF A CONTINUED EFFORT TO EDUCATE THE PUBLIC ON PRESCRIBED BURNS – BEFORE IT ALL GOES UP IN SMOKE. IN PILOT MOUNTAIN, I’M SOPHIA RAMIREZ.
