12/24/2025
As we approach the peak of season for Northwest Florida, residents are likely to see smoke from as far as 30 miles away as land managers utilize fire to restore ecosystems, reduce hazardous fuels and improve timber stands.
Prescribed fire is a safe, effective way to manage forest health, reduce hazardous fuel loading and apply a naturally occurring process to the landscape.
Why do we use prescribed fire?
By using prescribed fire, we get these benefits:
• Community protection: Florida is one of the top states in the nation for use of prescribed fire. By clearing out overgrowth, prescribed fire reduces the risk of catastrophic wildfires and the subsequent devastation to communities
• Firefighter protection: Prescribed fires clear out overgrowth that can fuel bigger wildfires. When forests are maintained with prescribed fire, any wildfires that do occur are less severe and easier for firefighters to control.
• Protection of native habitats: Prescribed fire provides openings in the vegetation that many species need, improves nutrient availability, and promotes fresh plant growth. The practice also controls insects such as ticks and diseases like brown spot fungal infection, which can kill young longleaf pine trees.
• Protection of wildlife that depend on fire: Some animal species need periodic fire to thrive. Many of these species have become threatened or endangered because of the exclusion of fire.
• The bottom line: Prescribed fire allows us to choose the conditions and areas we burn. 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.
For more information, go to https://whyprescribedfire.org/ or reach out to your local Florida Forest Service office here: https://www.fdacs.gov/Forest-Wildfire/Our-Forests/Florida-Forest-Service-Office-Locations/Field-Office-Locations-and-Contacts
