MILTON, Fla. – Blackwater River State Forest and the Florida Forest Service will play host to more than a dozen federal administrators next week in conjunction with the National Interagency Prescribed Fire Training Council. Monday, March 6 is the target date for a 15- to 20-acre prescribed burn on the state forest and members of the media are invited to attend this unique event. PFTC blends classroom instruction with prescribed fire field exercises to help agency administrators from throughout the country gain a better understanding of fire use.
“It’s the knowledge and application of prescribed fire and arming the folks with the information to take home and do good things that’s the most important,” said PFTC Director Mike Dueitt. “The hands on experience of prescribed fire really puts it all together. The burns are a tremendous part of it. It really helps put things into perspective.”
Dueitt said prescribed fire isn’t as widely used in western states where the bulk of these administrators come from and this exposure helps them communicate with their fire personnel in their home units and make good decisions and help empower their people. It also helps that the window is such in Blackwater – and Florida in general – that they can count on getting get prescribed fire on the ground.
Want to go?
WHAT: Prescribed Fire Training Council live training.
WHEN: Tentatively scheduled for Monday, March 6 at 9 a.m.
WHERE: Blackwater Forestry Center, Munson, FL
MORE: For more information, please call Joe Zwierzchowski at (850) 983-5310.
“We’ve done this in other areas of the country and we always keep coming back to Florida,” he said.”
Florida has long been a leader in the application of prescribed fire in the Southeast and nationally and Blackwater Forestry Center routinely is among the leaders in the state.
Leading things for the Florida Forest Service will be one of Blackwater’s Forest Area Supervisors, Charles Christensen, who has been involved with PFTC for the past 10 years.
“It’s good for us because we get to showcase one of things we’re most proud of at Blackwater – our prescribed burn capabilities,” said Christensen, who’s responsible for overseeing the largest portion of the prescribed burning on Blackwater. “We also get to help teach the next crop of federal land and fire managers just how useful and important fire can be under the right conditions.”
Christensen and the Forest Rangers in his area also helped a group federal fire personnel work on their certifications for various positions including Prescribed Burn Boss and Firing Boss.
“They’re able to come here from out West when it’s their off season and put fire on the ground to become better at what they do back home,” Christensen said. “We have much bigger opportunity to burn in the winter here than they do given rain, snow and other weather conditions.”
The Florida Forest Service, a division of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, manages more than 1 million acres of state forests, provides management assistance on more than 17 million acres of private and community forests, while protecting homes, forestland and natural resources from the devastating effects of wildfire on more than 26 million acres. Learn more at FloridaForestService.com.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Federal fire managers to visit Blackwater, learn more about prescribed burning