The Kent Fire Department conducted its annual prairie burn early Tuesday morning. Firemen and safety officials gathered at the prairie behind the Student Recreation and Wellness Center and set the field ablaze to destroy invasive species and make way for native plants to grow.

“It sort of mimics nature. A lot of times back when we had grasslands, prairies, there would be pretty significant storms and maybe a lightning strike. It would hit, and then the nutrients that come from the fire help provide for the next year’s crop,” university grounds manager Rebekkah Berryhill said. “Specifically for the plants that we’re targeting to be in here, their root system can be eight, ten feet deep. They will withstand this top row burning off, but the stuff that shouldn’t be here, like the turf grass, only has two inch roots.”

Every year, grounds officials will decide whether to do a full burn of the prairie, to burn sections of it or to not burn it at all.

Berryhill said she surveys the prairie before the burn to determine what kind of plant material is growing and if there are many invasive species. Based on this visual inspection, the team then decides how much of the field they will burn.

Firemen work to burn only a section of the prairie at a time in order to allow animals to scurry off to a different area of the field. The fire officials also have a certain method of burning the prairie in order to keep the fire contained and controlled.

“Most of the outside of the prairie is green, so that area usually doesn’t burn, it’s the dryer stuff that burns,” Nicholas Bushek, fire prevention and safety coordinator, said. “What they do is they try to back-burn it, they burn little sections of it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s all wind-driven.”

Although the fire department has never seen this controlled fire get out of hand, they are prepared in case something were to go

wrong.

“If it did get out of hand, they brought the trucks, they have water. That way they can mitigate that situation real quick,” Bushek said.

Berryhill sees this controlled burn as an overall positive occurrence for the ecosystem of the prairie.

“It helps keep out the bad stuff, feeds the wanted plants, and then this nice dark soil will pull in heat from the sun, and so it’s a win-win-win,” Berryhill said.

Addison Foreman is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].