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.
On this November morning, the Menemsha lobster boat Shearwater has made its way three and a half miles south of Noman’s Land.
A planned expedition to recover a mysterious rune stone on Noman's Land reportedly inscribed with the name of famous Viking Leif Eriksson has hit a snag. The state historical commission questions the plan and the Chilmark historical commission has recommended against removal of the stone.
Riding the wave of a sudden renewed interest in a possibly ignored chapter of Vineyard history, an expedition made up of researchers, diving experts and history buffs plans to travel to Noman's Land this summer to help determine if Vikings visited here around the year 1000 A.D.
