This painting illustrates a US Fish and Wildlife Service flextracked tractor crew burning out an area in a pocosin (forested wetland) on the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in Eastern North Carolina. The firefighters are using drip torches while walking on foot behind the tractor to ignite a line of fire on this prescribed burn. This ignition would widen the burned out area adjacent the fireline on the south end of the burn unit. The reference photo used for this painting was taken by myself from the ignition helicopter while monitoring the progress of the burnout operation before beginning aerial ignitions.
The North Stumpy Rx Burn conducted in 2009 was one of the most difficult and decisive of my career as a Forester/Fire Management Officer with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. At this time we were fortunate to have a highly trained and skilled fire crew supported by firefighters from our cooperators such as the North Carolina Forest Service, National Park Service, The Nature Conservancy and the various Rural and City Fire Departments in our section of Eastern North Carolina. Without these dedicated firefighters we could have never attempted such a complex and difficult prescribed burn in this area of the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. Located between the villages of Stumpy Point and Manns Harbor, the North Stumpy burn unit was a part of the "North Stumpy Conflagration Barrier", a concept designed to strategically reduce fuels in an area to help firefighters arrest the growth and spread of wildfires along the mid-section of the Alligator River NWR.
This painting was given to Donnie Harris upon his retirement from 25 years as a firefighter and Fire Operations Specialist with the Alligator River NWR in 2024. Donnie was instrumental in developing our fire program through personnel training, equipment development and supervision of day to day operations. He was the "holding boss" on this prescribed burn, controlling the tempo of the burnout operation and giving the OK for the aerial ignition phase that was to come later.
This painting illustrates a US Fish and Wildlife Service flextracked tractor crew burning out an area in a pocosin (forested wetland) on the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in Eastern North Carolina. The firefighters are using drip torches while walking on foot behind the tractor to ignite a line of fire on this prescribed burn. This ignition would widen the burned out area adjacent the fireline on the south end of the burn unit. The reference photo used for this painting was taken by myself from the ignition helicopter while monitoring the progress of the burnout operation before beginning aerial ignitions.
The North Stumpy Rx Burn conducted in 2009 was one of the most difficult and decisive of my career as a Forester/Fire Management Officer with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. At this time we were fortunate to have a highly trained and skilled fire crew supported by firefighters from our cooperators such as the North Carolina Forest Service, National Park Service, The Nature Conservancy and the various Rural and City Fire Departments in our section of Eastern North Carolina. Without these dedicated firefighters we could have never attempted such a complex and difficult prescribed burn in this area of the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. Located between the villages of Stumpy Point and Manns Harbor, the North Stumpy burn unit was a part of the "North Stumpy Conflagration Barrier", a concept designed to strategically reduce fuels in an area to help firefighters arrest the growth and spread of wildfires along the mid-section of the Alligator River NWR.
This painting was given to Donnie Harris upon his retirement from 25 years as a firefighter and Fire Operations Specialist with the Alligator River NWR in 2024. Donnie was instrumental in developing our fire program through personnel training, equipment development and supervision of day to day operations. He was the "holding boss" on this prescribed burn, controlling the tempo of the burnout operation and giving the OK for the aerial ignition phase that was to come later.