Environment
What California Can Learn From How the South Manages Wildfires
As deadly wildfires blaze, experts are calling on the state to emulate the South’s long tradition of prescribed burning.
There are three things that give him joy in life, says Johnny Stowe: “Beer, my grandkids, and fire.”
Not a campsite fire, or a house fire, but fire that Stowe prescribes and manages across the wild lands of South Carolina. As a heritage-preserve manager for the state’s department of natural resources, Stowe works with crews to set ablaze predetermined swathes of land around the state, carefully burning off undergrowth with low-intensity flames along carefully planned control lines. Every year, in winter and spring, on days when the weather and wind are just right, Stowe lights up thousands of acres this way. He loves every minute of it.