Middle Georgians can expect smoke in the air from prescribed burns

Middle Georgians can expect smoke in the air from time to time as prescribed burns take place across the region and state.

“It’s been very wet and people have been patiently waiting for some good burning weather and it is upon is,” said Wendy Burnett, public relations director for the Georgia Forestry Commission. “I think that we can probably expect to see a little bit more smoke throughout the week until it rains again, and we would just ask people to patient with that.

“I know it’s a little bit of an inconvenience, but keep in mind the good that it’s doing for the forest,” she said.

Two pretty large prescribed burns Wednesday in Putnam County by the U.S. Forest Service sent smoke across some multiple counties in Middle Georgia, including Bibb County. One was over 1,200 acres and the other was about 1,300 acres, Burnett said.

Thursday, two pretty good prescribed burns in Jasper County are expected, she said. Those prescribed burns include 1,200 acres by the U.S. Forest Service and a 50-acre prescribed burn by the Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge.

“So we’re probably going to get a little smoke from those,” Burnett said.

Additionally, small burns on private property are taking place as well as folks take advantage of the good burn weather before the next rain sets in, she said.

One of the main benefits of a prescribed fire is it reduces the risk of intense wildfires, Burnett said.

“You go ahead and burn the understory in a controlled way, and that way, if there’s a wildfire, it’s not going to burn nearly as intensely because you’re reducing the fuel load,” she said.

Also, some plant and wildlife species are dependent on fire, Burnett said.

In Middle Georgia, wild turkeys love a clean understory to nest in, while the longleaf pine benefit from prescribed fires because it helps them to release their seed and the fires drown out any competing vegetation, she said.

“It’s doing good for everybody, so again we would just ask people to bear with us while we work on the forest,” Burnett said. “It’s going to be much more beneficial in the long run for the forest and for the safety of folks who live near the forest.”

This story was originally published March 21, 2019 at 12:02 PM.