Three years ago, East Bay Regional Park District employees noticed an increasing number of dead or dying trees caused by the drought.
“We identified over 1,500 acres of tree mortality within our regional parks,” said Sabrina Landreth, East Bay Regional Park District general manager.
Knowing all those trees could ignite with a single spark, park officials started making plans to clear them out and wanted to find an eco-friendly way to do it.
That’s when they found the carbonator. It was churning away at Anthony Chabot Regional Park.
It’s a piece of heavy machinery that incinerates dead trees like their kindling. It looks like a shipping container without a roof.
The temperature inside – a scorching 1300 degrees.
NBC Bay Area’s Ian Cull has more in video player above.
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