Local forestry, fire personnel prepare for wildfire season

A photo from the 2019 Flatwoods Fire and Nature Festival at the Austin Cary Memorial Forest. Courtesy of UF-IFAS
A photo from the 2019 Flatwoods Fire and Nature Festival at the Austin Cary Memorial Forest.
Courtesy of UF-IFAS

Florida has settled into the last week of January with dry grass, warmer weather, and of course, Prescribed Fire Awareness Week. 

The state is near the end of the peak prescribed burn season now, the time when the Florida Forest Service (FFS) burns underbrush to facilitate ecological restoration and reduce the impact of the impending wildfire season. 

“There’s always fire on the ground and smoke in the air in Florida whenever there’s not a tropical system and a hurricane,” said Dr. Ludie Bond, wildfire mitigation specialist and public information officer for FFS. 

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Florida naturally experiences a lot of fire, along with other southeastern states that see frequent lightning, Bond said. This has caused Florida’s plants and animals to adapt to become fire-dependent, expecting natural fires that would come every 3-7 years, according to Bond. 

The prescribed burns help promote nutritious food for ground-foraging animals and increase wildflower populations, which increases pollinators. 

Bond said Florida leads the nation in prescribed burns, using them to treat over 2 million acres each year, totaling about 30% of the prescribed fires in the United States. 

The work done during prescribed burn season helps mitigate the natural wildfire season that follows, running from approximately February through May. 

A prescribed burn demonstration at the 2019 Flatwoods Fire and Nature Festival.
Courtesy of UF-IFAS A prescribed burn demonstration at the 2019 Flatwoods Fire and Nature Festival.

Florida was not always so invested in prescribed fires, but after devastating conflagrations burned half a million acres in 1998, drawing about 10,000 wildland firefighters from around the country, the state made some changes. 

Florida is now a “right to burn” state, where burners have liability protections for negative impacts caused by their smoke or an escaped fire. 

Natural resource agencies in Florida conduct their own prescribed burning, whether they are national parks, state forests or water management districts. The Suwannee River Water Management District alone targets an average of 8-10,000 acres to burn each year, according to a recent press release. 

Florida also originated prescribed burn councils and associations, which Bond said are gaining traction around the country. 

“Right now, people are seeing all the devastation going on in Southern California with their wildfires, and wondering, could Florida be like California,” Bond said. “And the answer is, we were. We were, but we’re not now, and a lot of that is attributed to our robust and successful prescribed burn program.” 

Even after the preparation of prescribed burns, wildfire seasons can vary in severity.  

High Springs Fire Department (HSFD) public information officer Kevin Mangan said this year’s wildfire season is expected to be a busy one, as Florida is set for a drier and warmer than average spring. 

During wildfire season, Mangan said it is important for people to create a “defensible space” around their homes and properties. This involves clearing away dead and dry vegetation from roofs and gutters and raking them away from the home. 

Mangan recommended that if residents plan to put new plants around their homes, they should opt for fire-resistant ones. 

He also said those who drive trucks and trailers should ensure their chains are secure. Dangling chains, which drag and spark on blacktop, are a major cause of roadside fires. 

“Obviously, all the grass around us right now is very dry because it’s dormant,” Mangan said in a phone interview. “We haven’t had a lot of rain, and the multiple hard freezes that we had over those last two weeks or so, that really is killing everything off and just making things really dry and brittle.” 

A prescribed burn demonstration at the 2019 Flatwoods Fire and Nature Festival.
Courtesy of UF-IFAS A prescribed burn demonstration at the 2019 Flatwoods Fire and Nature Festival.

The HSFD responded a few weeks ago to a roadside spot fire that resulted from a blown tire, Mangan said. Though the blaze was contained quickly, Mangan said it was close to reaching a farmer’s 78-acre hayfield. 

“Doing your part to avoid wildfires, both abroad through the community, by making sure that your trucks and trailers are squared away, and then your own defensible space at your home is kind of doing your part,” Mangan said. 

About 80% of wildfires are caused by people, Mangan said, often from escaped yard waste burns. He said the fire department encourages people to reach out to their local forestry office before burning to make sure the conditions are right for the pile they want to light. 

Wildfires and prescribed burns may look similar from a distance, and Bond said in modern America, many people are separated enough from agriculture that the difference may be difficult to understand, and that Americans have been taught to vilify fire in general. 

She noted that Smokey Bear is one of the nation’s most successful advertising campaigns, with a catchphrase since 1947 to teach Americans, “Only YOU Can Prevent Forest Fires.” In 2001, according to the Smokey Bear website, the slogan was updated to “Only You Can Prevent Wildfires,” to clarify the difference between unplanned and prescribed fires. 

But forestry stewards did not leave Smokey’s updated slogan to work on its own. Bond said an average of 1,000 new people move to Florida each day, and many of them have negative views of forest fires. 

“I think as natural resource agencies, we need to strive for trust,” Bond said. “Because it’s a heavy lift to get people to really understand all that goes into the use of prescribed fire. But if they trust the agency and they trust the people conducting the burns, they’re much more likely to support our efforts.” 

This has led to fire festivals like the Flatwoods Fire and Nature Festival set for this weekend, where attendees can see a prescribed burn up close and learn not to fear it. A newer-than-Smokey wildfire mascot will also be there: Burner Bob the Bobwhite Quail, created by the Longleaf Alliance, a nonprofit to restore and steward longleaf pines. 

A new Ask IFAS document, released in time for Prescribed Fire Awareness Week, also highlights resources for landowners, including educational websites, training opportunities and service providers. For a user-friendly resource on prescribed burns, including a map of fires in the area, both Bond and Mangan pointed to whyprescribedfire.org. 

If residents see or smell smoke in the air, Mangan said it is likely a prescribed burn. But if they see flames, he encourages them to call 911 and give the best directions they can to get firefighters to the right spot. 

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Janice Garry

Really great article, Glory. I’ve been broadly aware of the benefits of prescribed burns, but you taught me some interesting and helpful details. I grew up in San Diego, Calif, and have experienced the effects of wildfires. It is heartening that Florida has taken the lead on finding solutions. Thank you.