RCFD conducts prescribed burn in downtown Rapid City

If you noticed smokey conditions in downtown Rapid City this afternoon, don’t worry it was only a prescribed burn.

The Rapid City Fire Department conducted a controlled burn at the Trinity Eco Prayer Park at the corner of Fourth and St. Joseph Street.

Trinity Lutheran Church purchased the land back in 2005 and converted it into a park in 2014. The park features a variety of native plants, shrubs and trees.

In the spring, the firefighters come and in help burn some of the old grasses and plants.

Not only is it beneficial for the park, but it’s a good training exercise for the firefighters, as well.

“The fire reduces vegetative matter and then also puts nutrients back into the soil,” said Ken Steinken, the Trinity Eco Prayer Park Director. “It actually helps stimulate growth. So one of the guidelines to the management of the park is we want to find ways to work with nature instead of against it. So we use the fire as a way to do that.”

Steinken hopes the Rapid City Fire Department can conduct a prescribed burn in the park every few years in order to keep it healthy.