USFS responds to smoke concerns
The U.S. Forest Service said it’s working to better notify the public and area fire departments about prescribed burns after smoke clouded areas of Garland County this week.
County Judge Rick Davis said he received numerous complaints from residents in western Garland County, with reports of smoke from prescribed burns in Bonnerdale and Mount Ida migrating as far east as the Airport Road bridge over Lake Hamilton.
Ben Rowland, the Caddo/Womble Ranger District’s fire management officer, could not confirm if the Forest Service’s 1,019-acre prescribed burn east of County Line Church Road and south of Old Dallas Road in southwest Garland County was the sole source of smoke pushing east toward Hot
Springs Wednesday. He said he observed many people burning as he oversaw the prescribed burn from a helicopter.
“If that was from the Bonnerdale burn, that would be residual smoke following a low-lying area,” he said. “I think the majority of the smoke had dissipated. Some may have been residual smoke that went down into the valleys and streams.”
Forest Service spokesman Terence R. Peck said the agency tries to burn early enough in the day to allow smoke to dissipate before it can settle into low areas at night. He said the agency is working with Garland County’s sheriff and emergency management departments to better notify the public and local fire departments before it begins prescribed burns.
Highway 70 west Fire Department Chief Autumn Carlisle said smoke from Wednesday’s burn was still prevalent in the department’s service area Thursday morning.
“The winds were out of the northwest (Wednesday), and it pushed smoke all over our area,” she said Thursday morning. “When the winds calmed down and the humidity increased, it dropped smoke like a rock into the community. It left when winds were out of the south and humidity levels decreased.”
Rowland said the Forest Service tries to avoid prescribed burns on the Ouachita National Forest when the prevailing wind is blowing from the west. According to the National Weather Service’s Mt. Ida reporting station, the prevailing wind was out of the northwest, with gusts of 16 miles per hour, Tuesday, when the Forest Service conducted a 2,551-acre burn in the Bashaw Mountain area of Montgomery County.
The weather station at Hot Springs Memorial Field reported prevailing winds from the north-northwest, with gusts of 15 miles-per-hour, during Wednesday’s 1,000-acre burn near Bonnerdale. The Forest Service also burned 1,243 acres Tuesday in the Yell County area of the Ouachita National Forest.
Rowland said this has been the third-consecutive week with favorable burning conditions. He said the 26-percent humidity level for Wednesday’s burn in Bonnerdale was on the lower end of the agency’s burning parameters, but the drier air was needed to offset ground moisture in the flatter terrain of the burn area.
Rowland said the Forest Service tries to keep smoke out of communities and major highway corridors, but sometimes it can’t be avoided.
“When we burn between (Highway 270 west) and (Highway 70 west), we’re going to have to put smoke across one of them,” he said. “We try to mitigate that with electronic signals along the road to alert traffic. We’re working to do a better job of getting the word out to more people.
“It’s going to affect someone, but usually it’s only for a short time. We try to minimize what we do and how it affects folks.”
Rowland said February and March are the Forest Service’s most active months for prescribed burning in the Ouachita National Forest. Updates on burning in the Ouachita and Ozark-St. Francis national forests are available by calling 1-888-243-1042. Information about burning in the Ouachita National Forest is also available at https://www.fs.usda.gov/ouachita.