Eglin fire managers blaze through a banner burn season

  • Published
  • By Jerron Barnett
  • Eglin Environmental Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  As the gears of the Eglin mission have kept on turning, the Eglin Fire Management personnel have kept on burning acres of forest on a record pace to the tune of approximately 105,000 acres and counting during the Fiscal Year 2008 prescribed fire season. 

By virtue of many days of ideal weather conditions for applying fire, streamlining the mission scheduling process with the 46th Test Wing Range Operations Control Center and a new equipment fleet, Eglin Fire Management Section Chief James Furman calls this a 'banner year' for the prescribed fire program. 

Mr. Furman also credits the assistance from members of organizations like The Nature Conservancy, the Gulf Coastal Plain Ecosystem Partnership and the Interagency Prescribed Fire Training Center in Tallahassee, Fla. 

For other members of the staff, the frequent and distinct smell of burning pine needles and forest fuels this season has been the sweet smell of success. 

"I can really see the fruits of our hard labor over the years now," David Grimm, Eglin fire management specialist, said. "For me, it's a thrill to see the landscape take on more of an open, park-like appearance that we aim for." 

Mr. Grimm, who has performed the role of coordinating all aspects of a prescribed burn known as a 'burn boss' for approximately 35 of 135 burns this season, said he and his fellow co-workers in the Eglin Fire Management Section have really enjoyed being able to burn as much as they have this season to support Eglin's mission. 

"It's an incredible rush," Mr. Grimm said, despite facing bugs, snakes and sweltering heat for hours during burn activity. 

When the right 'prescription' of weather, amount of forest fuels on the ground (fallen pine needles and leaves) and other factors exist, the Eglin Fire Management Section's goal is to burn an average of 70,000 acres a year to aid in ecosystem management and long-term range sustainability, Mr. Furman said. At that rate, the entire Eglin reservation would see fire about every five years. A typical prescribed fire season runs from December to July. 

The Eglin long-leaf pine ecosystem is a fire-dependent one, meaning that many native plants and animal species, 11 of which are federally protected such as the red-cockaded woodpecker, depend on fire that is caused by either lightning strikes or Eglin's resident fire managers. 

This season's accomplishment will bring the five-year average up to 73,000 acres burned annually, Mr. Furman said. That makes this season's number of acres burned even more significant given that the staff wasn't able to reach their acreage goals in both FY06 and FY07. This was due to less than ideal weather conditions during each of those seasons, increased wildfire suppression efforts and a worn-out equipment fleet. 

Because the period of ideal weather conditions can be so short on a given day to conduct a burn, Eglin fire managers worked with 46th TW ROCC personnel to deconflict burn activities with active test missions the day prior to capitalize on those ideal weather conditions when they occur, Mr. Furman said. This has been a major breakthrough for the program and has benefited both the mission and the ecosystem. 

"On any given day during the week, we've got 60 active missions on the range," B.J. Franklin, 46th TW ROCC supervisor, said. "If they can't burn in one area because the test being conducted close by is smoke-sensitive, they'll find another place to burn. The process we have in place now with the control burn folks makes it easy for us in the ROCC. " 

As a result of such a successful prescribed fire season, Eglin wildlife biologists and ecologists expect to see tangible benefits to their ecosystem management efforts.
"The more we burn, the easier it gets to burn," Brett Williams, Eglin fire ecologist, said. "In managing a landscape with 300,000 plus fire-dependent acres, the best shot we have at ensuring ecological benefits from prescribed fire is to burn as frequently as possible." 

Viola Walker, Eglin forester, anticipates seeing some crucial benefits to her programs as well from this amount of applied fire and fire in general. 

"Fire helps prepare some sites for planting longleaf pine by knocking back grasses and reducing smaller sized fuel," Ms. Walker said. "Young longleaf pines grow best in areas with lots of light and less competition from other species."

Mr. Williams added that with so much acreage burned this year, wildfire suppression, another role of the Fire Management Section, should be much easier and safer in the near future.

"It would be hard for a wildfire to spread very far without running into one of our burns from this season where the fuels have been significantly reduced (by prescribed fire)," Mr. Williams said.

As far as their potentially record-breaking season, Mr. Furman didn't offer any predictions as to what the final tally of acres burned will be, but revealed the prescribed burning season will start to wind down in the coming weeks.

"We'll take advantage of the ideal weather as long as funding and equipment allows," Mr. Furman said. "I've got an excellent staff here and they're always ready to go."