Smoke in Jessup from Controlled Burn

If you drove by MD 295 or MD 175 on Thursday, you may have noticed a large column of smoke coming from Jessup.

"It's a controlled burn of a 40-acre parcel," said Anne Arundel County Fire Division Chief Michael Cox.

Between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., the state was conducting the burn, according to Cox, parallel to MD 295.

Laurel-based Patuxent Wildlife Research Refuge, a division of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, planned the burn, a practice it said would benefit both communities and wildlife. 

"Fire helps control undesirable exotic plants, maintains grassland habitat for nesting birds and small mammals, promotes wild flowers and other native plants, reduces the accumulation of organic debris and releases nutrients back into the soil," said Brad Knudsen, manager of Patuxent Wildlife Research Refuge, in a prepared statement.

"The use of controlled burns also supports Patuxent’s unique role as a research refuge by allowing scientists to study the effect of fire on a variety of refuge habitats,” added Knudsen.