Grass fire in progress, (Brian Neben, Courtesy)
ELWOOD — The Elwood Fire Department alerted the public that a controlled burn will be taking place in Gosper County during the afternoon of Tuesday, Feb. 24.
According to the Elwood Fire and Rescue Department, the controlled burn will be takin place between Roads 428 and 430, east of Elwood and south of Highway 23. The burn is set to start at 1 p.m.
The fire department will be on standby during the burn.
“A controlled burn is a planned low-intensity fire that is often used to prevent uncontrolled wildfires from overwhelming a forest landscape by removing hazardous fuels such as low growing vegetation,” per the American Forests non-profit website.
The U.S. Forest Service estimates that 4,000-5,000 prescribed burns are completed annually by federal land management agencies, and the agency states that over 99% of those are successful, meaning they remain contained within the predetermined area.
“Wildfires are changing in the Great Plains and multiple states have experienced unprecedented wildfire years. Scientists expect this trend to continue. Four of the 10 largest wildfires in the continental U.S. occurred in the southern Great Plains from 2010 to 2018,” per the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy.
“Texas’ 2006 East Amarillo wildfire is the largest wildfire in the continental U.S. on record and burned nearly 1 million acres in 24 hours. More than 50% of the total area burned by wildfires in the continental U.S. occurred in the Great Plains in 2011, and multiple states reported record increases in area burned by wildfires over the last decade,” per the NDEE.
