TDEC, Bays Mtn. Park perform prescribed burn to negate future forest fires
KINGSPORT, Tenn. (WJHL) — Smoke could be seen coming from Bays Mountain Park in Kingsport most of the afternoon on Wednesday. It was controlled burn by park rangers in conjunction with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC).
Prescribed burns are used to purposefully light fire to certain locations of woodland. It's a land management technique to mimic the natural occurrence of fire that will restore a healthy ecosystem, according to TDEC officials.
It's the first time it's ever been done at Bays Mountain. The fire was closely monitored by TDEC, park rangers, Kingsport firefighters and some future firefighters from Dobyns-Bennett High School's Pulaski Club.
The Pulaski Club is the only high school wildland fire training club in the country. Student Killian Kelly said it's pretty cool to take part in a prescribed burn at a park that means so much to him.
'(I was) born and raised in Kingsport,' Kelly told News Channel 11. 'So I've been up here, all my life I've come up here for field trips, being in the planetarium. I've hiked these trails before. So it's definitely something else to come back and do something historical for them. So I would definitely love to come up here in the future and see how the land kind of regenerates after the fire.'
Kelly says he wants to be a firefighter when he graduates from high school.
'I plan to go and structure firefighting. So I thought this program and the DB fire class in general would be a great place to start my career.'
The burn was carefully planned and had been in the works for some time, but TDEC leaders said the added debris from Hurricane Helene made this a perfect time.
TDEC's Natural Area Program Manager Sam King explained the importance of a controlled burn.
'A prescribed burn is a lot different from a wildfire,' King said. 'We have a very specific set of parameters, both weather and how the fuels and the leaf litter, and the wood on the ground, the moisture levels, and how all that interacts that lets us do these burns safely. Rather than wait for a major drought or a lightning storm or something that could start a wildfire, we're able to come in and do it with adequate resources and make sure everything stays under control in order to meet our objectives.'
Only about seven acres were burned among the park's 3,766 acres of land. However, park manager Megan Krager said the small burn would be instrumental in gathering data like how the fire reacted and what plant life will return.
'So we want to see what the landscape is going to do,' Krager said. 'If there's some swirly winds on the top ridge, we want to see how that's going to affect some of our ignition sites. Also, too, what we want to do is after the burn, we want to know what's going to be coming back. We want to know, is there anything else that might be laying down in seed that's been dormant for a number of years? Would that possibly be coming back? So again, we're trying to fill in some of the gaps and some of the questions that we had ourselves over the past few years about certain plants here at the park.'
The burn was at the top of the mountain near the communication towers, a popular trail for biking and walking. Visitors may be shocked at the sight of charred land, but Krager says the burn is good for the park's ecosystem.
'They're going to see some charring on the ground. And then within roughly about three weeks, they'll start to see some of the plants start to come back. Some of the greenery, and then a month later, you'll see a little bit more greenery as well. Yes, the base of some of our trees are going to be charred, but it doesn't affect the trees because we're not cutting our trees down for logging purposes.'
Bays Mountain leaders said if the results of the prescribed burn Wednesday are successful, more burns will likely be planned at the park in the future.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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