- April 23, 2024
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Prescribed fire in Princess Place Preserve: prep. Courtesy photo
Prescribed fire in Princess Place Preserve: ignition. Courtesy photo
Prescribed fire in Princess Place Preserve: monitoring. Courtesy photo
Prescribed fire in Princess Place Preserve: aftermath. Courtesy photo
Flagler County on Tuesday, March 16, completed its fifth successful prescribed fire at Princess Place Preserve since January to restore natural fire back into ecosystems and remove hazards fuels.
The Land Management Department with the assistance of Flagler County Fire Rescue, the Florida Forest Service, and the Florida Park Service have used fire to eliminate hazard fuels on 179 acres this year within the preserve. Prescribed fires were conducted on the following dates: Jan. 7 (55 acres); Jan. 21 (46 acres); Feb. 26 (2-acre training burn); March 4 (55 acres); and, March 16 (21 acres).
“Fire is a natural and necessary component of wildfire mitigation within nearly all of Florida’s ecosystems,” said Prescribed Fire Program Supervisor Mike Orlando, who typically serves as “burn boss” during these prescribed fires. “It is vital to our local maintenance and mitigation practices.”
Land Management maintains about 10,000 acres within Flagler.
“Of that acreage, about 3,000 acres receive fire with little to no additional work,” said Resiliency and Resource Stewardship Manager Tim Telfer. “Another 1,500 acres should be maintained by fire, but require additional work such as mechanical mastication, or mulching, before fire can be safely returned.”
Mulching reduces both the fire’s available fuel and its intensity, as well as the ecological impact it has on desired remaining vegetation. Controlling fire intensity and duration are key factors to ensure the health of a fire-dependent natural community, particularly in areas that haven’t had fire in some time.
A successful prescribed fire, sometimes also referred to as a “controlled” fire, removes the hazardous level of fuel in a given area. Unplanned wildfires have a greater risk of being destructive, because the accumulation of vegetation serves as the fuel for these hotter, faster moving fires.
Flagler County’s goal with prescribed fire in Princess Place Preserve is to restore natural fire back into ecosystems and remove hazards fuels. Longleaf pine already exists in many areas of the burns — which mimics the natural fires that have historically occurred every two to three years within longleaf pine ecosystems. A thriving ecosystem reduces the invasive species populations while enhancing other native plants and animals.
“We’ve been fortunate to get five burns completed in the past two and a half months,” Orlando said. “The weather has to be just right — it can’t be too windy, or from the wrong direction, too low or high relative humidity or dispersion. We review the forecast for many factors and monitor them throughout the day.”
