Part of 2019 planned burn Mar. 27 on Parade Grounds.

The Fishers Island Fire Department (FIFD) reported a successful planned burn Mar. 27 of 36.04 acres of restored grasslands along the airport runway and on the Parade Grounds. But what do our volunteers actually do to conduct a safe burn in specifically prescribed areas?

Don Beck, FIConservancy Board Member and Fishers Island Club golf course superintendent explains:

The fire department combines its annual training exercises with burns necessary to maintain FIConservancy’s restored grasslands. This year, it took about 20 volunteers and three fire trucks two-and-a-half hours to complete the burn. We always have an ambulance on site during the  burns.

Before the burn, we had a meeting at the fire department with Chief Bruce Hubert and Assistant Chief Jeff Edwards, who split up FIFD members into three teams, with one truck for each team.

We discussed the logistics of the burn and what everyone’s role would be. The 36.04 acres were broken down into four plots or burn units. The wind was blowing from the north, away from houses and traffic along the road, over open water, so Team 1 started the burn on the southern most plot, which abutted a sandy beach.

While the southern-most plot was burning, Team 2 used one of the fire trucks to water down lights and electrical components along the runways. Once the southern-most burn was completed, the two other teams started to back burn the two plots along both sides of the long runway. (Back burning is a method of controlling the fire, so it doesn’t spread to adjacent fields. The back burn is lit against the wind, so it burns very slowly.)

Once the back burn had created a sufficient buffer between plots, both fields were lit from the northern side, allowing both plots to burn very quickly. Once those two plots were completed, we moved everyone to the final Parade Grounds plot. The Parade Grounds was back burned, then lit from the northern side the same as the earlier plots. We finished as the sun was setting. We then re-filled the trucks at the hydrants near the post office, and everyone came back to the fire department for a warm meal cooked by John Bergquist and Aaron Lusker.

Fire is essential for the habitat of the fields. The fire burns all the duff of previous seasons’ growth and more importantly kills a lot of the invasive weed seeds. The heat from the fire warms the top inch or so of the soil making the weed seeds unviable but not harming the desired warm season grasses which root very deeply in the soil.

See 2019 prescribed burn pictures below. Tom Sargent Photos.