According to press releases from Pam Tucker, director of Columbia County’s Emergency & Operations Division, Fort Gordon’s Wildland Fire Team has conducted the following “prescribed burns” so far this week:
Tuesday: 844 acres
Wednesday: 952 acres
Thursday: 939 acres
Today: 617 acres
TOTAL THIS WEEK: 3,352 ACRES
Today’s press release warns that the city of Harlem is being impacted by smoke from these fires.
On a related note, the national health report released last week (the one which ranked overall health in Richmond County No. 135 among Georgia’s 159 counties) found that airborne particulates in Richmond and Columbia Counties are 12.7 and 12.8 respectively. By comparison, the national standard or goal is 8.8. And for further comparison, Columbia County’s particulates are as bad as urban metropolitan Fulton County.
Is there a connection between poor air quality in the CSRA and thousands of acres regularly going up in smoke? It’s hard to imagine any answer other than yes.