JACKSONVILLE, Fla.-- The Florida Division of Forestry is planning several controlled burns in North Florida.
Smoke, ash and charred ground are all that's left of a controlled burn in Clay County. "Up here. in Northeast Florida, we have legitimate wildfire concerns due to the fuel loading with some of the underbrush that grows really quick," says Senior forester Barry Tye.
So to control that, the Florida forest service on average burns 2-million acres every year. Florida has the most controlled burns in the nation. And they typically burn for two reasons. "We burn primarily to help regenerate some of the trees and to prevent the wildfire from getting too intense," says Forester Jonathan Dougherty.
"This stuff's going to burn whether we do it or nature does it. And we like to make sure that when it does happen its not something you see on the news or jumping across highways and burning down houses. We want to make sure that we're being responsible stewards of the land," says Tye.
Action News asks, "Do controlled burns ever get out of hand?" "I wont sit here and say that they don't. There are times when we started to burn and say this is probably not the best day to do it," says Tye.
Burns are not being authorized because of low humidity and high winds.
