If residents around Flat Shoals Mountain see smoke billowing into the sky, chances are there is nothing to worry about — the Hanging Rock State Park superintendent said a prescribed burn is set for Thursday, April 13.
The fire is later than officials had planned — Park Superintendent Robin Riddlebarger said on Feb. 13 the fire would most likely take place later in February or sometime in March, depending on weather, final preparation work and availability of workers watching the fire.
She said earlier this week the fire would take place on Thursday, with one caveat — if the weather cooperates. If winds are unusually strong, or if it is rainy and wet, the burn will likely be postponed again.
Riddlebarger said officials with her department, working with the North Carolina Forest Service county rangers, as well as volunteers and “burn crews” from the North Carolina Department of State Parks, have been working in recent weeks to clean and re-establish fire lines around the area to be burned.
“It’s a parcel of land that’s 255 acres, it has to have a containment line all the way around it,” she said earlier this year, when first announcing the burn. Some of the fire breaks will be roads, and at other places there are old containment lines made by a bulldozer from earlier fires which must be cleaned out and re-established. In particularly rocky or uneven terrain, the lines must be made by hand. “That takes a lot of people and a lot of time,” she said.
As that work is coming to a close, she said now it will be more about weather — how windy it is, high or low pressure to allow the smoke to rise rather than hang over communities, and similar factors.
She said there are a number of reasons for prescribed burns. The most obvious is to clean out years of brush growth and downed trees that accumulate over time.
“In history, lightning would have struck and things would have burnt on their own, naturally.” However, those lightning strikes can start blazes that get out of control, burning vast areas and threatening roads, homes, and businesses. Modern fire prevention and fire-fighting methods have lessened the severity of natural fires, but the unintended consequence is the accumulation of vast amounts of brush and dead plants that can cause a fire to get out of control quickly with something like a lightning strike.
One of those out-of-control blazes occurred in November 2021 on Sauratown Mountain, charring 40 acres before firefighters were able to extinguish the pesky fire — while firefighters had quickly brought the fire under control, little flare-ups occurred for days, occupying the firefighters until much-needed rain extinguished the final flames.
In 2008, a much larger fire occurred, burning largely out of control for six days, charring more than 400 acres. Thick underbrush and deadfalls provided fuel for such blazes and, at times, that fire was so intense the flames jumped fire breaks or re-ignited in areas that had been extinguished.
“With a prescribed burn, we’re in control,” Riddlebarger said.
Another factor in determining when to start a controlled burn is when during the growing season the fire takes place. She said once trees have grown their leaves for the season, a fire can kill the trees, but while still dormant, they withstand the heat and survive.
And, she added, there are some plants that need fire to grow. Certain forms of pines, she said, need fire to help split open the cones the trees drop, so that seeds inside the cones can spread and sprout.
As she committed to earlier this year, her office has been sending out alerts to the community this week regarding the prescribed burn. Once the fires are set, she said area residents and by-passers will see smoke rising from the mountain, but she does not anticipate much in the way of low-hanging smoke.
She said there is not a specific timetable for the prescribed burn to be complete. Most likely, she said the entire process may take just a couple of days, but longer is not unheard of. She said a prescribed burn at Morris Knob once smoldered for several months before finally going out.
That is not likely at Flat Shoals Mountain.
“Some areas will smolder. We’ll spend several days on site, putting out the fire, the hot spots, smoldering logs, to put the fire to bed. That can take several days.”
DANBURY — The Stokes County Arts Council is pleased to announce the opening of an exhibit of original art, “Artist Craig Richards’ Student Works Show” in the Apple Gallery at The Arts Place of Stokes. The official gallery reception will be Sunday, Jan. 14, from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m.
Craig Richards has been teaching painting for nearly 20 years. He has been guiding students in drawing, oils, acrylics and watercolors both in studio and in Plein Air.
He was the President of Muddy River Art Association, The President of Triad Outdoor Painters and presently teaches at The Arts Place of Stokes, The Sawtooth School of Visual Arts and Forsyth Technical Community College.
His work can be viewed at artistcraigrichards.com and his teachings can be watched on his YouTube Channel at @artistcraigrichards5952.
This show includes 40 paintings by 16 student artists ranging from beginner to professional. “All works are thoroughly delightful,” Richards said.
The artists included in the show are Lisa Richter, Elizaveta Egorova, Deborah Fredette, Kim Lance, Susan Pilbeam, Anna Humprey, Theresa Marie Auricchio, Kitty Ray Brown, Shan Woolard, Cynthia Sun, Jeremy Ulrey, Rob Manaraze, Teresa Everhart and Edie Moore.
This exhibit will be on display from Jan. 2 through Feb. 15.
The Arts Place of Stokes is located at 502 Main Street in Danbury.
For additional information about the exhibit, please contact the Stokes County Arts Council at (336) 593-8159 or visit www.stokesarts.org.
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