This week is Prescribed Fire Awareness Week in Florida

This week is Prescribed Fire Awareness Week in Florida.

Prescribed Fire Awareness Week is a time the state uses to draw attention to the state’s practice of doing controlled burns on public forestland.

Florida has nearly 17 million acres of forestland; on average, the state issues more than 120,000 prescribed burn authorizations to burn over two million acres each year.

Prescribed burns are set as a way to clear undergrowth in Florida’s woodlands – lowering the amount of fuel there is to feed wildfires.

Besides cutting down on hazardous ground fuels, prescribed burning also promotes healthy forests and improves wildlife habitats.

People who own forest land and are interested in adding prescribed fire to their land management practices can get state assistance in doing so.

The Florida Forest Service has developed two programs to help people planning prescribed burns.

The first is the smoke screening tool which allows people to plot the burn on a map and see where the smoke from the burn is going to go and if it will impact anywhere that has been designated as a 'smoke sensitive area'.

The second is the live fuel moisture readings that can help people better plan their burns.

You can find the all of the information on-line at FreshFromFlorida.com/Forestry.

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