Property owner James Devine listens in as Vermilion college students and professors plan out the burn on his property Monday afternoon

Vermilion students Savannah George, Emily Laur, Anne Wettschreck, Saara Miller and Monica Hurst pose for a picture before the prescribed burn on James Devine’s property on Monday. Photos by Parker Loew.

Kris Ryan, a second year student at Vermilion, uses a drip torch to set the field of cattails on fire.

A group of Vermilion students walk along Grant McMahan Blvd to the far west side of the cattail field. The wind was blowing east so the far west side of the field was deemed the safest spot to start the burn.

Emily Laur holds a drip torch and watches as cattails take flame in a prescribed burn near the start of the Echo Trail and County Hwy. 88.