Fire!

Figure 8. A “controlled burn” leaves the mature pines untouched. (Photograph by the author. More about the photograph)

Figure 8 shows what you have probably been wanting to see from the beginning: a fire in the longleaf pine savanna. This photograph was taken in the spring of 1999 when controlled burns during the growing season were carried out at many sites within Camp Lejeune.

This fire is quite different from those that devastated Yellowstone Park. There are no “roman candle” trees here. In fact, there are no mature trees burning at all. You can see some sapling hardwoods losing their leaves, but at the base of the pines the flames are only a few inches tall. The proximity of the photographer to the flames indicates the close watch that staff of the Environmental Management Division keep over these fires, and why they are called “controlled burns” rather than forest fires.

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