What's All That Smoke? Prescribed Fire Season Heats Up

    Smoke descended on large swaths of North Lake County on Friday, as a prescribed burn was conducted in the Ocala National Forest.  The burn was one of dozens expected during the coming months that will cover thousands of acres, and is part of the ongoing effort to improve habitat and reduce fuel to fires started by lightning or other causes throughout the year.
    On Monday, February 7, the US Forest Service was again burning in the area of CR 445, southwest of Forest Road 69 and south of the Alexander Springs recreational area. The fire, expected to be just 30 acres, follows a burn in the same area last Thursday, February 3, which covered over 1,000 acres. 
    Prescribed burning is more prevalent in the winter months, when weather conditions are generally more stable and predictable.  While smoke from fires can cause visibility on area roads to be reduced for a period and possibly cause issues for individuals with breathing conditions, forest management agencies have found burning is the best way to keep undergrowth from becoming so dense it chokes out wildlife habitat and creates a dangerous fire situation.
    “Prescribed fire allows us to choose the conditions and areas we burn,” said Judith Tear, Wildlife Mitigation Specialist and Information Officer for the Florida Forest Service’s Withlacoochee Forestry Center, which has oversight of state forest lands in Lake County. “This isn’t the case with wildfires, which usually occur in weather conditions that make them hard to control and produce a lot of smoke.  Fire has shaped our forests and grasslands for thousands of years, often starting because of lightning or fire used by indigenous people.  Prescribed fire allows us to work with this natural process to experience its many benefits.”
    Some of Florida’s wildlife requires conditions found in recently burned areas to thrive, and fire improves nutrient availability and fresh plant growth.  Fire helps to control insects like ticks, as well as diseases like brownspot fungal infection, which can kill longleaf pine trees.
    A prescribed fire is safer for firefighters, as the fires are smaller and less severe than could occur if an area was left to become overgrown. 
    Florida leads the nation in the use of prescribed fire, with an additional benefit of the practice being that should a fire get started by lightning, and Florida leads the nation in lightning strikes.