COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Forest Service will resume prescribed burning on a limited basis on the national forests in South Carolina.
The Forest Service temporarily suspended prescribed burns on national forests across the Southeast in March in response to COVID-19 concerns and extremely dry weather conditions.
Prescribed fires will resume on all four ranger districts across South Carolina to improve wildlife habitat, improve forest health and reduce the risks of wildfires.
“The USDA Forest Service Southern Region is taking a risk-informed approach to managing prescribed fire on our national forests during the ongoing pandemic,” said Forest Supervisor Rick Lint. “Prescribed fires will resume in select locations to achieve critical forest management objectives. We will continue to pay special attention to smoke management and the safety of the public and firefighters during all operations.”
The Forest Service will evaluate the following factors for prescribed burns during the pandemic:
1) the ability to maintain fire responder viability and sustainability;
2) potential smoke impacts to communities from prescribed fire and how that interacts with COVID-19 effects;
3) the ability to use local resources so that interstate travel is not necessary.
“We conducted some prescribed burns in South Carolina in May to test our abilities to operate safely in the COVID-19 environment,” Lint said. “Our staff did an excellent job in the field and we are confident that we can resume using fire as an important tool to manage the forests.” Prescribed fire is a planned fire—also called a “controlled burn” or “prescribed burn,” and it is used to meet management objectives.
Much of the 630,000 acres of national forest land in South Carolina is dominated by habitat and wildlife that depend on periodic fire.
Prescribed fire also help reduce fuel loads on the forest floor to reduce the chances of catastrophic wildfires.
On average, the Forest Service burns less than 10 percent of the national forest land in South Carolina per year.
