ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. -- Only weeks after the work was finished, signs of life were emerging.
By late April, new growths had already begun sprouting from the forest floor, the result of an open leaven canopy that allows sunlight to reach the lowest areas of the previously shaded woodland.
For the Arnold Air Force Base Natural Resources team, the fresh sprouts are a clear indicator of a successful prescribed fire season.
“It was a very good burn season; a lot of good burn days,” said Arnold AFB Natural Resources Manager Brandon Bailey. “Just putting fire on the ground isn’t always the measure of success. We come back in after the burn season, look and see what kind of response the stand had to the fire and see if the fire intensity and the timing and the way we burned it reach our goals or not.”
This year, prescribed burn operations at Arnold started in late February and continued through the end of March.
The Arnold AFB mission area occupies a relatively small portion of the nearly 40,000 acres that comprise base property. The remainder consists mostly of forests and wetlands.
Where there are forests exists the risk of wildfire.
Prescribed burns are intentionally-set, controlled fires used to reduce potential wildfire fuels, such as dead vegetation, pine needles, sticks, twigs and shrubs, that help wildfires grow and spread.
Along with mitigating wildfire risks, wildlife management goals for various flora, fauna and ecosystems can also be accomplished through prescribed burns. Fire can be used to modify a stand, or a distinct unit of the forest throughout which certain characteristics are shared. Prescribed burns can help facilitate the restoration of some stands, as the fires stimulate new plant growth.
This year’s effort has not only benefited the forest by spurring regrowth, it has been a boon for its inhabitants. Deer feed on the nutrient-rich plantlets to bolster their recovery from the nourishment-scarce winter.
Bailey feels the work will also benefit those who enjoy spending time in the Arnold AFB wilderness.
“Arnold Air Force Base, especially outside of our security area, is managed as a wildlife management area,” he said. “[Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency] utilizes it to allow for public hunting and public use. It’s a multiple-use area.
“The work we’re doing with prescribed fire is managing that area to the best of our ability to provide those, usually, recreational opportunities and training opportunities and all the things that come along with that.”
The goal of the Arnold AFB Natural Resources team is to burn approximately 2,000 acres each year.
“This year, we were able to burn 2,727 acres, and that occurred over 21 days of burning,” said Arnold AFB Forester Jeff Page. “We had everything from 80-degree days to snow.
“It was very effective this year; very, very good impacts.”
By exceeding the goal this year, the Arnold AFB Natural Resources has a cushion should it fall short of its 2,000-acre goal in 2027, Bailey added.
To achieve its burn season objectives, Arnold AFB Natural Resources calls upon the help of federal wildland fire personnel located throughout the country. This year, fire detailers with U.S. Air Force Wildland Fire Branch were joined at Arnold by fire technicians from the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Forest Service.
Prescribed burns at Arnold during the 2026 season were executed by 24 individuals from seven different states, including California, Utah, Montana and Alaska.
Whenever possible, the same detailers are sought from one year to the next.
“We shoot for that just because of familiarity,” Bailey said. “Each base that they go to has its own caveats and little intricacies, so having the same folks year-after-year, they get familiar with the area, they know what we’re shooting for, what our goals are, and that really helps.”
In stark contrast to wildfires, prescribed burns are meticulously planned.
Before operations commence, data such as wind speed and direction provided by the National Weather Service office in Nashville is assessed. This information is used to determine the best places to burn on a given day.
“You will start to model where the smoke is going to go based on these weather parameters, because we do have areas inside the base and outside that are very sensitive to smoke,” Page said. “Once we get all those elements in place, then you put a test fire on the ground to see if what you’re actually modeling, what you’re predicting to happen, is happening. Once that takes place and you say, ‘Yes, this fire is a go,’ then you will start to put the fire on the ground in such a way to get the effects that you’re looking for at that particular site.
“As the fire is taking place, everyone is communicating down the chain to say, ‘This is what I’m seeing,’ and the fire boss will then determine if any changes need to be made to try to improve or, in some instances, reduce the impact so that you keep things within a particular set of results.”
Preparation for next year’s burn begins before the current season has concluded.
Records of areas burned are maintained as many stands must be burned on a regular cycle, anywhere from annually to every five years. As operations are conducted, potential targets for future prescribed fires are identified.
“Throughout this spring, we will follow up with our after-action impacts and talk about just what we were able to do in this past burn season and then, as summer comes in, we will start to plan the next round of burns,” Page said.
Planning is performed to not only help deliver the desired results, but also to minimize the impact of smoke on communities surrounding Arnold AFB.
Notices are also disseminated ahead of the burn season to let the members of the public know the smoke rising from the Arnold woodland is not an emergency and poses no threat to their property.
“We do our best to mitigate those impacts to where we’re getting smoke up and over people; we’re not putting it right on their homes,” Bailey said. “Now, things happen and sometimes it doesn’t work out the way that we had hoped or it doesn’t work out as well as we had hoped, and people do smell a little smoke and experience a little smoke, but we do our best to mitigate that and get the word out ahead of time.”