February 1, 2024 • 10 mins
This is Florida's prescribed burn season. State and local officials set parts of the woods on fire to head off bigger fires later in the year, and to support habitat for species that depend on a yearly fire cycle. We speak with Jay Bailey of the Sarasota County Fire Department and Tony Clements with Sarasota County Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources, about prescribed burns and an event they have Saturday, February 3rd to educate the public about controlled burns called Fire Fest.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Gordon Bird here Beyond the News.When you think of Sarasota County, you
think of the beaches, you thinkof the cities, You think of fast
growing areas like Sarasota and Northport andVenice. But Sarasota County also contains a
lot of woodlands and areas that arestill very natural, and sometimes at this
time of the year, if youare out in those areas, you'll see
(00:22):
smoke and things burning, and that'soften a deliberate act. Sarasota County is
holding an event February third at theCarlton Reserve, which is near Venice,
to talk about what's called controlled burnsor prescribed fire. We have the Sarasota
County Fire Department's Mitigation Officer, JayBailey, and Tony Clements, who is
(00:44):
the Division manager for Natural Areas andTrails with Sarasota County Parks, Recreation and
Natural Resources, to talk about aprescribed fire and an upcoming event called Firefest.
Jay and Tony thank you very muchfor joining us on Beyond the News
by pleasure now. Of course,people who move down here wake up one
day and they see smoke on thehorizon on a sunny day and maybe they
(01:07):
freak out and call nine one oneand say there's a fire, and then
they find out that it's planned.And part of the purpose of what's coming
up the event called Firefest, isto explain what prescribed burns are about and
why they're necessary. So maybe that'sa good place to start as far as
what this is and the function thatit has in basically controlling or making sure
(01:30):
the environment stays safe. Yeah,well I can start with that. This
is Tony, Florida is the lightningcapital of North America. So for thousands
and thousands of Europe we've had theselightning strikes and these wildfires that would sweep
across large areas of Florida. Soall the plants and animals that live in
these natural others have learned to dependon these fires. So the prescribed fire
(01:52):
is a way for us to goin there and still under our conditions,
still applied those tools, because handsdown, prescribe fire is the best tool
we have for restoring and maintaining ournatural areas. And this is as you
met, Jen, It's something that'sbeen part of nature for a very long
time, and you're just implementing theprocess in a controlled sort of way.
(02:15):
So what does the how does theecology benefit when you have these prescribed burns
going on in these woodlands? Yeah, this is Tony again, so many
many reasons. There's a lot ofspecies that we have in Florida, both
plant and animal, that would notbe here today without having this prescribed fire.
So it provides that biodiversity. Itopens up the area too that I
(02:38):
can think of our Florida scrub jayand the gopher tortoise. Without these prescribed
fires, these animals would not persistor staying Florida. So it's imperative that
we continue these fires for that biodiversity. And there's another reason why we have
these prescribed fires, and I thinkJay's going to talk a little bit about
that. Jake, go ahead.Yeah, So, as Tony mentioned,
(03:00):
these fires occurred throughout the history ofFlorida and it really shaped the landscape and
kind of the plant diversity that wehave historically is not there anymore. So
the reason for this is once oncethe settlement started happening in Florida, you
know, early nineteen hundreds, wegot really good at putting these fires out.
Fires were looked at as bad andwe knew we needed to put these
(03:22):
fires out to protect residents and homes, and the vegetation changed. The vegetation
became more of a grown, moredense, a lot thicker in most areas,
and then with influx of the housesand homes and areas a lot of
times, it created what it's calledurban interface, So it's a mixture of
where this natural habitat and the naturalecosystem met up with homes and residences and
(03:43):
neighborhoods. So that obviously created apretty significant issue for the safety of these
residents, and we saw a lotof homes burned, especially in the eighties
and into the nineties and early twothousands, where homes were burned and destroyed.
You saw a lot on the EastCoast. We had one of the
biggest fire is use in the historyof the United States in nineteen ninety eight
on the East coast of Florida wherehundreds of homes were burned down. So
(04:06):
there's a real need to try tocontain that vegetation and try to get that
vegetation back to how it was historicallywhen we had natural fires occurring. So
that's a lot of the reason wedo these prescribe burns is to try to
burn that landscape and mimic mimic mothernature to try to get it back to
a more managible situation where if wedo get a wildfire that does occur,
(04:28):
that we can either manage it andprotect the homes or make it easier for
us just to put it out.And I do remember we really look at
these fires for two you know,Tony mentioned ecological reasons, and then we
also look at as a fire mitigationor fire management issues. So we really
harp on these two main issues andmain functions of why we actually do these
prescribe burns. And I do rememberthe wildfires in nineteen ninety eight that you're
(04:50):
like, this one was an ElNino year. And one of the areas
where you have that urban interface goingon to a great extent is Northport where
you have many homes that are rightup against woods and you know they're surrounded
by pine needles, and that canbe a very flammable situation. That's right,
(05:10):
and we try to tell residents tomake sure they do what they can
to protect their homes, try tocreate a defensible space around them, make
sure that their void of vegetation touchingtheir homes, make sure there's no leaf
litter or brief from vegetation in theirgutters or on their roofs, making sure
that there's an area where if thereis a fire that occurs next to them,
maybe if they have an empty lotnext to them, that a fire
(05:31):
truck can get in and actually protecttheir home if there is a fire.
Because fires do happen, especially aspart of Floras. Tony mentioned it is
lightning capital, so we will havefires. We just have to make sure
as a county and as residents thatwe can do what we can to protect
our homes. And of course you'regoing to be covering all this ground in
the big event that you have comingup on Saturday, February third at the
(05:55):
Carlton Reserve which is near Venice,and you're calling it fire and it's really
an event dedicated to explaining to peoplethe necessity and importance of prescribed fire and
managing the potential for wildfires. Andone of the things I understand you're actually
going to do there is you're actuallygoing to give a demonstration of one of
(06:16):
these fires. That's right, weare. We're going to do a small
demo burn is going to really simulateexactly how we do it on an every
day basis when we do an actualprescribe burns. We're going to show you
the process that we go through,from the planning of how we have our
crew in place, the equipment thatwe use on the burns, and then
some of the techniques that we use, and how we actually put it out
(06:38):
at the end of the burn andmake sure that it's safe and contained.
So residents and visitors to the eventwill get a good chance to come and
really see how we do that upclose, and then afterward they'll be able
to walk around the area that wasrecently burned and kind of see what it
looks like afterward. And we're goingto get the details out on Firefest here
in just a moment. But somethingthat occurs to me as well is that
(07:00):
when you conduct these events and youeducate the public, when someone looks out
and sees smoke from potential fire,how do they know that it's one that
is prescribed so they don't end upwasting the time of the nine to one
one operator. So residents won't alwaysknow that. We try really hard to
(07:23):
get word out if we're doing aburn, but there's Sarasoita County alone has
fifty thousand acres that were responsible forand then there's an additional fifty thousand acres
thereabouts that is state either state ownedor publicly owned land in Sarasota County.
So you're looking at about one hundredthousand acres total of publicly owned land in
Sarasota County. Not to mention,you have ranches, privately owned ranches that
(07:46):
do prescribe burning that have been burningon these sites for hundreds of years now.
So Sarato County is one of thebusiest areas as far as presky burning
goes. There's a lot of prescribeburning that goes on here. So people
don't always know when they see asmoke call them out east what it is.
So, as I said, wetry our best to get the word
out of what we're doing. Youcan check the Florida Forest Service website and
(08:07):
they have it listed daily who's burningand where they're going to be burning.
But if there's ever a concern,if a residents is concerned that it may
in fact be a fire, it'sokay to call nine on one, and
you know, because it could actuallybe a fire. We've mentioned a couple
of times now that we do geta lot of lightning strikes in this area,
so that we do get wildfires.So it's it's better to be safe
than sorry. If you think thatthere might be a fire, it's okay
(08:28):
to call and let the crew sortit out, whether it's it's legit or
not. All right, he's doinga burn. If the county is doing
a burn, we do post tothe Sarasota County Emergency Services social media pages
which can be found on Facebook andTwitter under Sarasota County Emergency Services. So
we will post notifications there when itis a county burn as well. And
(08:50):
that's Sarah Neely with Sarasota County.And once again let's sum up about Firefest
when and where it's going on andwhat's going to be going on there where
people can find out more information.Yep. So Firefest is February third,
from ten to two at our CarltonReserve which is eighteen hundred Marbury carlt Parkway
in Venice. We're gonna have lotsof activities for kids. We're gonna have
(09:13):
hay rides again, the demonstration fire. We'll have Cane nine out there,
so there'll be lots to do,louts of different vendors. There'll be free
food so you can you can't missthat, and it's a great opportunity to
learn more about what you can doaround your home to protect your house and
also how we protect and preserve ournatural areas within sarasotaccount. Well. One
(09:35):
other thing we'll have out there thisyear in this when we've had the last
this is actually the eleventh firefest we'vehad. It'll be the tenth one we've
had in person. We had theCOVID year was a virtual, but we
have had the Shriff's helicopter out therethat we utilize on wildfires. They have
a bucket do they drop water fromto help protect homes. So it's something
that the visitors will be able tocome out and see the helicopter up close
(09:58):
and kind of see how it operatesand get a chance to to the pilots
who fly that piece of equipment.And again that's coming up February third at
the Carlton Preserve in the Venice area, and we thank you Tony Clements and
Sarah Neely with Sarasota County and JayBailey with Sarasota County Fire Department. Thank
you all for joining us on beyondthe news. Thank you, thank you,
Gordon Bird here Beyond the News.When you think of Sarasota County, you
think of the beaches, you thinkof the cities, You think of fast
growing areas like Sarasota and Northport andVenice. But Sarasota County also contains a
lot of woodlands and areas that arestill very natural, and sometimes at this
time of the year, if youare out in those areas, you'll see
(00:22):
smoke and things burning, and that'soften a deliberate act. Sarasota County is
holding an event February third at theCarlton Reserve, which is near Venice,
to talk about what's called controlled burnsor prescribed fire. We have the Sarasota
County Fire Department's Mitigation Officer, JayBailey, and Tony Clements, who is
(00:44):
the Division manager for Natural Areas andTrails with Sarasota County Parks, Recreation and
Natural Resources, to talk about aprescribed fire and an upcoming event called Firefest.
Jay and Tony thank you very muchfor joining us on Beyond the News
by pleasure now. Of course,people who move down here wake up one
day and they see smoke on thehorizon on a sunny day and maybe they
(01:07):
freak out and call nine one oneand say there's a fire, and then
they find out that it's planned.And part of the purpose of what's coming
up the event called Firefest, isto explain what prescribed burns are about and
why they're necessary. So maybe that'sa good place to start as far as
what this is and the function thatit has in basically controlling or making sure
(01:30):
the environment stays safe. Yeah,well I can start with that. This
is Tony, Florida is the lightningcapital of North America. So for thousands
and thousands of Europe we've had theselightning strikes and these wildfires that would sweep
across large areas of Florida. Soall the plants and animals that live in
these natural others have learned to dependon these fires. So the prescribed fire
(01:52):
is a way for us to goin there and still under our conditions,
still applied those tools, because handsdown, prescribe fire is the best tool
we have for restoring and maintaining ournatural areas. And this is as you
met, Jen, It's something that'sbeen part of nature for a very long
time, and you're just implementing theprocess in a controlled sort of way.
(02:15):
So what does the how does theecology benefit when you have these prescribed burns
going on in these woodlands? Yeah, this is Tony again, so many
many reasons. There's a lot ofspecies that we have in Florida, both
plant and animal, that would notbe here today without having this prescribed fire.
So it provides that biodiversity. Itopens up the area too that I
(02:38):
can think of our Florida scrub jayand the gopher tortoise. Without these prescribed
fires, these animals would not persistor staying Florida. So it's imperative that
we continue these fires for that biodiversity. And there's another reason why we have
these prescribed fires, and I thinkJay's going to talk a little bit about
that. Jake, go ahead.Yeah, So, as Tony mentioned,
(03:00):
these fires occurred throughout the history ofFlorida and it really shaped the landscape and
kind of the plant diversity that wehave historically is not there anymore. So
the reason for this is once oncethe settlement started happening in Florida, you
know, early nineteen hundreds, wegot really good at putting these fires out.
Fires were looked at as bad andwe knew we needed to put these
(03:22):
fires out to protect residents and homes, and the vegetation changed. The vegetation
became more of a grown, moredense, a lot thicker in most areas,
and then with influx of the housesand homes and areas a lot of
times, it created what it's calledurban interface, So it's a mixture of
where this natural habitat and the naturalecosystem met up with homes and residences and
(03:43):
neighborhoods. So that obviously created apretty significant issue for the safety of these
residents, and we saw a lotof homes burned, especially in the eighties
and into the nineties and early twothousands, where homes were burned and destroyed.
You saw a lot on the EastCoast. We had one of the
biggest fire is use in the historyof the United States in nineteen ninety eight
on the East coast of Florida wherehundreds of homes were burned down. So
(04:06):
there's a real need to try tocontain that vegetation and try to get that
vegetation back to how it was historicallywhen we had natural fires occurring. So
that's a lot of the reason wedo these prescribe burns is to try to
burn that landscape and mimic mimic mothernature to try to get it back to
a more managible situation where if wedo get a wildfire that does occur,
(04:28):
that we can either manage it andprotect the homes or make it easier for
us just to put it out.And I do remember we really look at
these fires for two you know,Tony mentioned ecological reasons, and then we
also look at as a fire mitigationor fire management issues. So we really
harp on these two main issues andmain functions of why we actually do these
prescribe burns. And I do rememberthe wildfires in nineteen ninety eight that you're
(04:50):
like, this one was an ElNino year. And one of the areas
where you have that urban interface goingon to a great extent is Northport where
you have many homes that are rightup against woods and you know they're surrounded
by pine needles, and that canbe a very flammable situation. That's right,
(05:10):
and we try to tell residents tomake sure they do what they can
to protect their homes, try tocreate a defensible space around them, make
sure that their void of vegetation touchingtheir homes, make sure there's no leaf
litter or brief from vegetation in theirgutters or on their roofs, making sure
that there's an area where if thereis a fire that occurs next to them,
maybe if they have an empty lotnext to them, that a fire
(05:31):
truck can get in and actually protecttheir home if there is a fire.
Because fires do happen, especially aspart of Floras. Tony mentioned it is
lightning capital, so we will havefires. We just have to make sure
as a county and as residents thatwe can do what we can to protect
our homes. And of course you'regoing to be covering all this ground in
the big event that you have comingup on Saturday, February third at the
(05:55):
Carlton Reserve which is near Venice,and you're calling it fire and it's really
an event dedicated to explaining to peoplethe necessity and importance of prescribed fire and
managing the potential for wildfires. Andone of the things I understand you're actually
going to do there is you're actuallygoing to give a demonstration of one of
(06:16):
these fires. That's right, weare. We're going to do a small
demo burn is going to really simulateexactly how we do it on an every
day basis when we do an actualprescribe burns. We're going to show you
the process that we go through,from the planning of how we have our
crew in place, the equipment thatwe use on the burns, and then
some of the techniques that we use, and how we actually put it out
(06:38):
at the end of the burn andmake sure that it's safe and contained.
So residents and visitors to the eventwill get a good chance to come and
really see how we do that upclose, and then afterward they'll be able
to walk around the area that wasrecently burned and kind of see what it
looks like afterward. And we're goingto get the details out on Firefest here
in just a moment. But somethingthat occurs to me as well is that
(07:00):
when you conduct these events and youeducate the public, when someone looks out
and sees smoke from potential fire,how do they know that it's one that
is prescribed so they don't end upwasting the time of the nine to one
one operator. So residents won't alwaysknow that. We try really hard to
(07:23):
get word out if we're doing aburn, but there's Sarasoita County alone has
fifty thousand acres that were responsible forand then there's an additional fifty thousand acres
thereabouts that is state either state ownedor publicly owned land in Sarasota County.
So you're looking at about one hundredthousand acres total of publicly owned land in
Sarasota County. Not to mention,you have ranches, privately owned ranches that
(07:46):
do prescribe burning that have been burningon these sites for hundreds of years now.
So Sarato County is one of thebusiest areas as far as presky burning
goes. There's a lot of prescribeburning that goes on here. So people
don't always know when they see asmoke call them out east what it is.
So, as I said, wetry our best to get the word
out of what we're doing. Youcan check the Florida Forest Service website and
(08:07):
they have it listed daily who's burningand where they're going to be burning.
But if there's ever a concern,if a residents is concerned that it may
in fact be a fire, it'sokay to call nine on one, and
you know, because it could actuallybe a fire. We've mentioned a couple
of times now that we do geta lot of lightning strikes in this area,
so that we do get wildfires.So it's it's better to be safe
than sorry. If you think thatthere might be a fire, it's okay
(08:28):
to call and let the crew sortit out, whether it's it's legit or
not. All right, he's doinga burn. If the county is doing
a burn, we do post tothe Sarasota County Emergency Services social media pages
which can be found on Facebook andTwitter under Sarasota County Emergency Services. So
we will post notifications there when itis a county burn as well. And
(08:50):
that's Sarah Neely with Sarasota County.And once again let's sum up about Firefest
when and where it's going on andwhat's going to be going on there where
people can find out more information.Yep. So Firefest is February third,
from ten to two at our CarltonReserve which is eighteen hundred Marbury carlt Parkway
in Venice. We're gonna have lotsof activities for kids. We're gonna have
(09:13):
hay rides again, the demonstration fire. We'll have Cane nine out there,
so there'll be lots to do,louts of different vendors. There'll be free
food so you can you can't missthat, and it's a great opportunity to
learn more about what you can doaround your home to protect your house and
also how we protect and preserve ournatural areas within sarasotaccount. Well. One
(09:35):
other thing we'll have out there thisyear in this when we've had the last
this is actually the eleventh firefest we'vehad. It'll be the tenth one we've
had in person. We had theCOVID year was a virtual, but we
have had the Shriff's helicopter out therethat we utilize on wildfires. They have
a bucket do they drop water fromto help protect homes. So it's something
that the visitors will be able tocome out and see the helicopter up close
(09:58):
and kind of see how it operatesand get a chance to to the pilots
who fly that piece of equipment.And again that's coming up February third at
the Carlton Preserve in the Venice area, and we thank you Tony Clements and
Sarah Neely with Sarasota County and JayBailey with Sarasota County Fire Department. Thank
you all for joining us on beyondthe news. Thank you, thank you,
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