The smoke may have cleared from the controlled burn performed by the U.S. Navy last Wednesday on Noman’s Land, but questions remain this week as to whether more could have been done to alert the public and prevent the confusion that led to a barrage of calls to the Island communications center.

Officials at the Dukes County communications center last week received between 50 to 100 calls while the fire burned on Noman’s, the small uninhabited island off the southern coast of Chilmark.

Island emergency officials were inundated with
calls from concerned residents Wednesday afternoon after a haze of smoke
and ash descended on the Island from a brush fire on Noman’s Land, the small uninhabited island off the southern coast
of Chilmark.

The fire was part of a
controlled burn started by the U.S. Navy to clear away underbrush and
expose unexploded ordinances left on Noman’s during
training exercises over the past five decades. Noman’s
Land is part of the town of the town of Chilmark, but is owned by the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.