Nic and I headed out to one of our local county parks on Friday night for their annual public burn. Living in the country we drive by a lot of prairie burns, but Friday we had the chance to see one up close.
Sounds kind of lame, but it was actually really interesting. Our county naturalist did a quick history of why they do prairie burns and explained what to expect and what to look out for.
During her presentation, the guy in charge of setting the fire informed us that they really shouldn't be burning that night because it was too windy...but they were going to do it anyway. Scary right?! Don't do this at home kids! They did have the local fire department on site, so it was completely safe to do.
Things got off to a slow start, but once the two fires they set met, everything moved so quickly and it was really cool. A lot of people came out to watch and many people parked across the highway to watch the action. It was like the 4th of July.
One of the things they told us to watch out for were the pheasants. You can see two in this photo if you look closely. The birds wait until the last minute, shoot straight up, and kind of hang out for a second before they shoot away to the other prairie at the park to set up their new home. (The park never burns both prairies in the same year so all the animals can head over and still have a place to live).
Who would have thought watching a prairie fire could be so fun??
Those are some cool photos! I've never seen a planned prairie before, but I have seen unplanned fires...which are still pretty cool once they are under control!
ReplyDelete