Smoldering Tree Bark

Fire smolders on tree bark during the 2025 FireSense research campaign, centered around prescribed burn operations at Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield in Georgia. These prescribed burns are ecologically necessary for the plants and animals in the longleaf pine ecosystem, and reduce fuels that could be accidentally ignited due to lighting strikes or military training operations. FireSense, the Department of Defense, and their partners use prescribed burns such as this one to develop and test tools and technology to make wildland fire management safer and more effective.