ABSTRACT
The intentional ignition of spilled oil on land or wetlands as part of an oil spill response plan is an accepted response tactic to reduce the impacts of oil in these habitats. Burning is often considered when access is limited, to reduce the amount of waste for transport and disposal, when there is a need to quickly remove the oil before it spreads and can affect sensitive resources or when other methods are likely to cause significant adverse impacts to the habitat. Burning is best conducted in habitats that are unvegetated or have grassy vegetation; burning of upland forests, swamps and mangroves is not recommended. It is preferred to have a water layer over the soil or, at a minimum, moist soils, to reduce thermal impacts to roots and tubers. Most crude oils and heavy refined products leave a burn residue that must be removed to reduce impacts to wildlife and speed recovery. Light crude oils and refined products will not leave a burn residue. However, burning will not remove oil that has penetrated into the soils, and these kinds of unburned residues must be removed after the burn. Guidance is provided in this chapter on developing a burn plan, including post-burn monitoring and emergency rehabilitation in terms of replanting and erosion control, as needed. Case studies with time-series photographs and post-burn monitoring results are used to represent the range of habitats, oil types and recovery from burning of oil. Burned habitats often recover within 1–2 growing seasons, with exceptions for fire-intolerant vegetation, when the oil was toxic and affected the vegetation before the burn was conducted, very hot burns that damaged the roots, oil that penetrated deep into the soils or for vegetation that was flooded for long periods after the burn.
