The Denton Fire Department, along with the University of North Texas (UNT), will be conducting a prescribed burn of the pollinative prairie at Discovery Park, located at 3940 N. Elm. This controlled effort is tentatively scheduled to occur on a specific date between Jan. 3 and Jan. 31, 2024, weather permitting. The community will be provided with updates as plans are finalized and should anticipate visible smoke during the burn period. Fire management officials will monitor environmental conditions to reduce its impact to air quality.
The 12-acre parcel will take approximately four hours to burn off and will be conducted by Denton Wildland Firefighters. The firefighters will use this opportunity to train for Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) fires that could potentially happen within the city limits.
UNT professors and students use this field to research grass, flower, and insect pollination in a natural habitat. By conducting a prescribed burn, dead thatch will become fertilizer, allowing for revitalization with new nutrients and sunlight to get to dormant wildflower seeds and grasses.
Identifying ideal weather and wind conditions are critical safety measures and will be done in conjunction with the National Weather Service fire weather forecast and Texas Parks and Wildlife prescribed burning recommendations. Wind, humidity, and sunlight will be the final determining factors as to which day the burn will happen. Wind conditions must be light and favorable from the south to east to keep smoke out of the neighborhood to the east. Ideally, the prescribed burn will occur before UNT students return to class.
Notification through social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Nextdoor) will begin in the week leading up to the burn. The same notifications will go out the day before and the day of the burn. We encourage the public to follow us on Facebook at City of Denton Fire Department and X at @DentonFireDept.
