Part of Newnans Lake State Forest receives prescribed burn

Two hundred acres of Newnans Lake State Forest was given a prescribed burn mid-afternoon Wednesday.

The burn was conducted by St. Johns River Water Management District and took place east of the Gainesville Regional Airport and North of State Road 26, said Florida Forest Service spokesperson Ludie Bond.

It was done to decrease the amount of fuel loads, which are highly flammable types of vegetation like leaves, wood, pine straw and dry grass, in that area, Bond said. Decreasing fuel loads lessens the effects of wildfires and protects homes, roadways and businesses.

“If you reduce the fuel loads, then the wildfires are not quite as extreme,” Bond said.

Different sections of the forest are burned every two to three years, Bond said. The burn was scheduled for Wednesday because the winds were heading north to northwest and the smoke will go south to southeast.

“[The smoke will go] away from the roadways, away from the airport, away from Dignity Village, away from the county jail,” Bond said.

The fire is not affecting the Gainesville Regional Airport, said Erin Porter, spokesperson for the airport.

“If there was an inversion layer or low clouds, it might,” Porter said. “We’re fine.”

Wildlife in the area like deer, birds, snakes and turkey can sense when there is a fire, Bond said.  They fly, burrow and run from the area and return in 24 hours.

A prescribed burn will also take place mid-afternoon Thursday for a longleaf pine restoration project on a 100-acre section south of the Waccasassa Forestry Center Office, at 5353 NE 39th Ave.

People should use caution when they are driving in an area where prescribed burns are happening, Bond said. There could be smoke in the air.

Contact Katherine Wallace-Fernandez at kwallacefernandez@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @katwf98.

A Florida Forest Service Forest Ranger lighting a prescribed burn with a drip torch on Newnans Lake State Forest winter of 2018. Courtesy to The Alligator