The smoke may have cleared from the controlled burn performed by the U.S. Navy last Wednesday on Noman’s Land, but questions remain this week as to whether more could have been done to alert the public and prevent the confusion that led to a barrage of calls to the Island communications center.

Officials at the Dukes County communications center last week received between 50 to 100 calls while the fire burned on Noman’s, the small uninhabited island off the southern coast of Chilmark.

Island emergency officials were inundated with
calls from concerned residents Wednesday afternoon after a haze of smoke
and ash descended on the Island from a brush fire on Noman’s Land, the small uninhabited island off the southern coast
of Chilmark.

The fire was part of a
controlled burn started by the U.S. Navy to clear away underbrush and
expose unexploded ordinances left on Noman’s during
training exercises over the past five decades. Noman’s
Land is part of the town of the town of Chilmark, but is owned by the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Controlled Burn

The Vineyard Golf Club will be conducting a prescribed burn of native grass areas of the course. The purpose is to control invasive broadleaf weeds and woody material and to promote little bluestem and fine fescues in native grass areas of the course. The burn will be supervised by Northeast Forest and Fire Management LLC and will occur between Oct. 12 and next April, as determined by the Edgartown fire department.

Scorched Earth

From the wide, grassy sweep of Katama Plains to the rolling wooded hills of the north shore, the charred smell of smoke hung in the air throughout March and April this year in many of the Island’s outlying places.

Controlled Burn

The Martha’s Vineyard Prescribed Fire Partnership plans to conduct a controlled burn today, April 23, at Quansoo Farm in Chilmark. Smoke may be visible above the south coast, heading south over the ocean.

State foresters and Nature Conservancy fire ecology experts will draft a fire management plan for Manuel Correllus State Forest on Martha’s Vineyard, to guide ongoing fire work, thanks to recent funding from the U.S. Forest Service.

The $374,000 also will cover the partnership to restore 925 acres in Massachusetts with prescribed fire over the next year, to manage ecosystems and improve public safety.

The Martha’s Vineyard Prescribed Fire Partnership will conduct a controlled burn Tuesday afternoon at Pocketpaces, east of Pohoganot Road, in Edgartown. The odor of smoke may be temporarily noticeable in Edgartown during the burn. Smoke also may be visible above the south coast and in the vicinity of Edgartown-West Tisbury Road near the Vineyard Golf Club.

The Martha’s Vineyard Prescribed Fire Partnership plans to conduct controlled burns today, Friday, April 8, at the Polly Hill Arboretum in West Tisbury and the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife property in Edgartown, west of Katama Airpark along Herring Creek Road.

Smoke may be visible Friday morning west of State Road, between North Road and Panhandle Road. In the afternoon, smoke may be visible above Katama. The odor of smoke may be temporarily noticeable as far as Edgartown center.

The Nature Conservancy is conducting a controlled burn at the Katama airfield between 1 and 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 20.