Grass fires

I ride in to work this morning. It is about a half hour after sunrise. The distance makes for a very nice commute - 5 miles. The air is cool, nippy. A mild wind from the north makes the ride seem sluggish. The coolness of the ground keeps the haze low to the ground this early.
There is a lot of haze, smoke actually, from the many grass fires.

There have been multiple grass fires for the last couple of weeks. There are so many that some of us have assumed they must be intentional, and others of us have told us they are. I still do not know for sure that they are. I do know they are not controlled in any sense that we would expect in the U.S. There is next to zero chance that they will get out of control, but no one is watching them. The moisture in the ground, the way the woods are separated by fields, lend themselves to a natural control environment for the fires.

There are so many of them, though, that they must be intentional. I might guess they are for insect control, but perhaps they serve some other function.