Industrial Park receives a controlled burn

By Bruce Karnick
Posted 5/4/23

Controlled burns are carefully planned to help restore specific areas to a more natural state. They help remove invasive species of plants and allow the regrowth needed to strengthen the local …

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Industrial Park receives a controlled burn

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Controlled burns are carefully planned to help restore specific areas to a more natural state. They help remove invasive species of plants and allow the regrowth needed to strengthen the local ecosystem. Fires have occurred naturally for thousands of years to complete this process, but in developed areas, like the Hastings Industrial Park, fires are put out before they can damage property.

Landbridge Ecological was contracted by the City of Hastings to conduct a series of controlled burns both in Vermillion Falls Park and throughout the industrial park. For the next few weeks, residents that visit these areas will see the charred remains of the grasses and weeds burned to produce the desired reset effect.

Patrick Kelly was the supervisor of the burns, and he explained the process.

“The city hired off to take care of his current plantings and they run the length of Spiral Boulevard and a couple of side streets. There are native plants that need fire for their maintenance every three to five years. Usually in the spring, sometimes in the fall. This year it's due so we're here doing that now. As a secondary benefit, it's going to open up the soil for us to put some more flower seeds down,” he explained.

“We burn into the wind to keep it safe. And we use water as our boundaries so they're wet lining around trees and around things we want to protect. And then we can snuff the flames out with the water as well. The process per section of grassy area takes between 20 and 30 minutes, so we have been putting in some long days depending on weather. It burns pretty fast,” he added.

The process starts with the call from the city. Once they get the contract, they contact the proper authorities to obtain the needed permits and they also alert the Hastings Fire Department (HFD) of the controlled burn. Although, the notification to HFD did not work as planned. The team started the burn near Valley Chevrolet and after 4:00 p.m. they were out near Intek when someone made a call to 911 about the fire. HFD was dispatched to the fire and upon arrival, they quickly realized that the fire was under control.

The fire crews start the fire with a device called a drip torch. The drip torch is filled with a proprietary mixture of gasoline and diesel fuels. The mixture allows the diesel to burn on its own, diesel fuel is a very safe fuel until it is under compression. It is also a slow-burning fuel so the two mixed produces the controlled burn needed to get the dry grasses to continue to burn as needed.

Once the area is burned as they want it, they extinguish the remaining flames to make sure there are no flare-ups and no risk to manmade structures.

The native plants and grasses should begin to return within a month or two.