Army: Fort Ord prescribed burns 'as soon as weather permits' - Monterey County Herald
Fort Ord >> The Army announced Monday it will once again burn portions of its former base “as soon as weather permits,” likely in September or later. It announced in March it intended to burn about 476 acres to get at munitions on Fort Ord left by generations of soldiers. The Army has set its sights on units 11 and 12, a nearly 500-acre area directly east of where it burned in 2013. Unit 11 is about 4,000 feet northwest of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Burns were canceled in 2014, making it two years since its last blaze jumped a containment line and caused nearby York School to be evacuated and smoke filled the surrounding area. The Army will only burn if it meets criteria to minimize smoke to the area, namely clear skies, temperatures between 45 and 90 degrees, relative humidity between 20 to 60 percent and ground-level winds not exceeding 7 mph. A 2002 study said it was “biologically preferred” because mechanical removal of vegetation would not assist plants that require fire to reproduce — in abundance on Fort Ord — and bulldozing plants would adversely affect the plant community. Although the 2013 fire was criticized, it was not as bad as 2003 when a planned 490-acre fire jumped containment lines and burned 1,500 acres, blanketing much of the Peninsula in smoke. Source: www.montereyherald.com
