May 23, 2012
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (AP) -- Foresters are using fire to bring back native grasses and plants as the K-25 nuclear weapons plant is razed at Oak Ridge.
Controlled burns are done every other year to bring back the plants that grew there before the giant building was constructed.
Bob Greenwell, who is with the group that finds new industrial uses for the reservation where the atomic bomb was built in World War II, said invasive species are destroyed by the fire while native grasses spring back from underground roots.
Foresters hired by Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee torched about 35 acres on Wednesday. Oak Ridge firefighters also use the burns as training events for wildfires.
