Sheppard conducts test controlled burn

Kelly Carter, a Burkburnett, Texas, firefighter and burn boss, walks the south edge of a 13-acre plot along Sheppard Air Force Base's flightline March 12 to ignite dried grass during a controlled burn. A controlled burn was conducted to test its effect on mitigating the growth of various grasses and weeds as well as how it could control the wildlife that takes up residence on the flightline. (U.S. Air Force photo/John Ingle)

Sheppard conducts test control burn

Kelly Carter, a Burkburnett, Texas, firefighter and burn boss checks his work March 12 following a controlled burn at Sheppard Air Force Base. A controlled burn was conducted to test its effect on mitigating the growth of various grasses and weeds as well as how it could control the wildlife that takes up residence on the flightline. (U.S. Air Force photo/John Ingle)

Sheppard conducts controlled burn

Published March 14, 2011
By John Ingle
82nd Training Wing Public Affairs

SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Firefighters from Sheppard Air Force Base and Burkburnett, Texas, conducted a controlled burn March 12 that could help improve flight safety for the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program.

Dave Mounsey, Sheppard's fire chief, said the test burn on a 13-acre parcel of land on the north end of the base's airfield was to see how the various grasses and weeds respond. He said it will also provide information on what wildlife returns to that area.

"We are trying to determine the best method to get rid of some of the grasses on the airfield," he said. "With certain types of grasses, we get certain types of birds and we get certain types of wildlife out there."

Chief Mounsey said the controlled burn could be added to the arsenal of techniques used to eradicate the threat of bird or other potential wildlife strikes on training aircraft at the 80th Flying Training Wing. If controlled burns prove to be successful, he said it could be used again in the future.

Kelly Carter, a Burkburnett firefighter and burn boss, said there is a method to the madness of a controlled burn. Various factors are considered when determining how to set the fire and the direction it will move.

For example, he said the wind was blowing out of the southwest during the first small burn. The wind then switched to a southeasterly direction when the larger plot of land was ignited.

"That changed my tactics on what we needed to do to keep (the fire) from overrunning one of the firefighters running the drip torch," Mr. Carter said. "There is a science to watching what's going on, watching your conditions to see how far ahead of the other drip torch you need to be or how far behind (you need to be)."

Mr. Carter said controlled burns, which aren't prevalent in this area but seem to be picking up in popularity, can train younger firefighters how to fight brush and grass fires. He said this method could also reduce the number of times resources are pulled to fight fires, resulting in savings for area fire departments.