Savannah River Fire Festival provides education on prescribed burns, preventing wildfire

Fire is often considered one of the most destructive forces in nature. Still, as it turns out, they can be used as a force of good if prescribed correctly.

Prescribed burns are controlled fires intentionally started for the purposes of forest management. When underbrush builds up within a forestry environment, it causes the risk of wildfires to rise. Prescribed burns rid the forest of excess underbrush, keeping the odds of these fires happening low. But it can do that and so much more; prescribed burns also promote plant diversity by reducing the build-up of organic debris, thus releasing nutrients in the soil.

Even the Native American tribes, such as the Cherokee and Muscogee, used prescribed burnings to aid the growth of more crops by creating more open spaces for them. In addition, prescribed burnings also helped with hunting, burning away fallen tree branches and underbrush so hunters could move through the forest more silently. They can also help create new habitats for wildlife.

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As far as the animals who live in these environments are concerned, many in Georgia have adapted to fires in Georgia and, as a result, have no trouble leaving the area when prescribed burns are being performed.

Nonetheless, responsible burners take extra care to ensure that all animals present in the area have enough time to escape on their own before fully committing to the act.

Not just anyone can perform a prescribed burn, legally, anyway. To be allowed to perform a prescribed burn yourself, you need to get a burn permit, which can be acquired at the GATrees website, or you can even call the Georgia Forestry Commission at 1-877-OK2-BURN (652-2876). You can also contact the Georgia Forestry Commission for technical assistance if you're a landowner in need of help in creating a burn plan.

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Planning is essential to this type of work because, just like with anything involving fire, there are risks to enacting a prescribed burn incorrectly. "We look at multiple factors like wind, humidity, all of those things," said Susan French, Georgia Sentinel Landscape Project Coordinator.

"We make a plan that takes all of that weathering into consideration, such as the number of people we might need to burn an area, what our objectives might be for the burning; we take all of that into consideration when we're planning our prescribed burns and using it to do all of those things."

Many are completely unaware of this method of preventing wildfire, which is why the University of Georgia's Mary Kahrs Warnell Forest Education Center is hosting its annual Savannah River Fire Festival to help spread awareness about the concept.

This festival aims not only to educate citizens on prescribed burns but also seeks to entertain families with games, food, and even face paintings. "This will be our third year that we're hosting it at the Mary Kahrs Center," French said.

"I'm really excited to have it for adults and kids. There's a little something for everybody. And it's really promoting prescribed fire as a good fire and why it helps communities of Georgia, our forests, our wildlife species, so people can come and see a prescribed burn in action and also meet a lot of the organization agencies that are using it."

Organizations like the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), Coastal Empire, Ogeechee Riverkeepers, Nature Conservancy, Savannah River Clean Water Fund, Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Division, as well as many more, will all be in attendance at the Fire Festival.

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These annual fire festivals have been going on for three years; each year, the Mary Karhs Center has grown and evolved since the events' initial debut. Last year, Forest Education Center saw 300 attendants at their last Fire Festival, 100 more than the previous year.

The Mary Karhs center has been hard at work doing TV interviews, digital billboard advertising, and social media campaigns to broaden its audience for its annual Fire Festival. "The ultimate goal of the fire festival is to get people to have a positive and fun hands-on experience with prescribed fire and to teach them all of the many things that benefit from it," French said. "It also allows people to meet their neighbors, get to see wildlife, and getting to kind of make some of those connections."

The Savannah River Fire Festival will be held will be held on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Mary Karhs Warnell Forest Education Center at 5960 Hwy. 17 South, Guyton, Ga., 31312. Admission will be completely free.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah GA events: Savannah River Fire Festival