McAlester Army Ammo plant staging controlled burn

Wednesday, March 15th 2006, 3:20 pm

By: News On 6

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) -- Despite a statewide burn ban, officials at the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant have been burning underbrush on about 700 acres of land at the 42,000-acre base.

The plant is not covered by the ban because it is a federal installations, and plant officials say it is important to reduce grass and brush to lessen the danger of wildfire in the area.

"We'd rather burn the underbrush and have control of it rather than having an uncontrolled burn later on," plant spokesman Mark Hughes said.

Oklahoma's 77 counties have been under a burn ban since January 7.