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 Florida's nearly 17 million acres of
public forestland.
Prescribed
fire uses slow-moving, low-grade fire to reduce the brush and overgrowth that
would otherwise serve as fuel for a dangerous wildfire.
Besides
cutting down on hazardous ground fuels, prescribed fires return nutrients to
the soil, provide better forage for wildlife and livestock, and help control
certain plant and tree diseases.
People
who own forest land and are interested in adding prescribed fire to their land
management practices can get state assistance in doing so.
During the 2024 fiscal year, the Florida Forest
Service set a new agency record with nearly 278,000 total acres treated in
State Forests.
From July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024, the
agency more than doubled last year’s prescribed fire total of 132,000 acres
treated and surpassed the previous annual record of 246,000 acres from
2014-2015.
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