March 08--It started with a burning brush pile, deliberately set by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) -- something they do often in the winter -- but this fire in some of West Michigan's duneland didn't go as planned.
Around noon on Tuesday, DNR Lead Ranger, Matt Metzger, says his team folded sand onto the fire, and watched it burn down. They monitored the pile of ashes for the next six hours, before going home.
By morning, a fire was sweeping through Saugatuck Dunes State Park, burning more than eight pristine acres.
"I smelled smoke," says Marylynn Webster who was out for her morning jog. "Then, I heard the sirens and I thought, Oh boy."
Metzger says his team was cutting down Austrian Pines, an invasive species that has taken over the sand dunes, something they've done every winter for the last eight years.
"The Austrian Pine is suppressing everything that was native to this area, so the goal of the project is to remove that suppression," he explains.
Once the trees are cleared, the natural dunes can thrive like they once did.
"The wind speeds will increase and start to move sand around," Metzger says. "The dune grass, and the native species, and the hardwood trees start to regenerate."
The DNR works on a few acres at time, forming small piles of logs and brush that continuously burn throughout the day.
"The high winds dug into our burn pile and carried some embers," Metzger says. "It did stay low and burned mostly surface needles and leaves.
"The (rangers) are experts in doing this," says Graafschap Township Fire Chief, Cal Haverdink. "They've done a good job over the many years."
Haverdink says about 30 to 35 firefighters were on scene from Hamilton, Saugatuck, Overisel, and his squad in Graafschap Township.
"It was very wet when they were working there Tuesday morning," Haverdink says. "With the wind blowing, (the pile) will eventually dry out and reignite.
Big fire trucks are no match for the rolling hills and the thick forest in the State park, so special off-road vehicles were used to get as close as possible, then boots hit the sand.
"We couldn't even get our jeeps up the incline so we grabbed our shovel to try and stop the forward progress of the fire," Haverdink says.
Howard Bouwens, who lives nearby, wonders why they are starting fires in the first place.
"It's state money," he says. "Let's spend wisely, let's not put our tax dollars up in smoke, literally."
He wonders if other people feel the same, and says the money should be saved and used for things like education, caring for elders and veterans.
"I think one of the main attractions to the area is that it's been left alone," he smiles, "and people like the DNR haven't done a lot of meddling."
Webster agrees.
Copyright 2012 - WXMI-TV, Grand Rapids, Mich.
