Cherokee National Forest rangers will set 3,000 acres on fire in Polk County’s Ocoee Ranger District over the next few days.

Spokesman Terry McDonald said the U.S. Forest Service’s prescribed fire program is used to dispose of flammable dead leaves and branches and control undergrowth to reduce the danger of much larger blazes. He said about 20,000 acres in the Cherokee National Forest will be deliberately burned in 2009, much of it in March and April.

Mr. McDonald said the burn will start today in the Sheeds Creek area and will continue into Friday.

“The burn will be visible from (U.S.) Highway 64 and surrounding areas,” he said.

The Forest Service will provide public notice for future burns, he said.

Cherokee Forest Assistant Fire Manager Marty Bentley said workers monitor weather carefully before a burn and are prepared at any point to stop burning if conditions aren’t right.

Opponents of prescribed burns say they aren’t needed in Cherokee because Eastern vegetation won’t support the type of wildfires that devastate Western forests.

Mr. Bentley said the scars left by prescribed burns are quick to heal.

“Growing conditions in East Tennessee allow burned areas to quickly green up within a relatively short period of time,” he said.