How Prescribed Fire Stopped a Wildfire in Big Cypress

Firefighter Conor Bertrand during the Perocchi Prescribed Fire. Michael Gue, South Florida Prescribed Fire Manager, NPS.

South Florida Fire and Aviation (SFFA) is going on the offensive against destructive wildfires. Using science, strategic planning and adaptive management, it runs landscape-scale prescribed fires designed to protect National Park Service land, infrastructure, and natural and cultural resources.

A year of planned burns

• In fiscal year 2023, SFFA treated more than 231,000 acres across South Florida's parks and preserve.
• The burns aimed to reduce hazardous fuels, protect federal infrastructure and structures on private in-holdings, and create healthier, more fire-resilient habitat.
• Each burn is lit under moderate conditions, producing a mosaic of burned and unburned patches.
• Eight fuels treatments — seven prescribed fires and one mechanical treatment — in and around northern Big Cypress National Preserve (north of I-75) were funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
• In mid-March, when conditions turned too hot and dry, SFFA switched from prescribed-fire season to wildfire season.

Firefighter Jack Hyman checks an area he lit before continuing prescribed fire operations. Michael Gue, South Florida Prescribed Fire Manager, NPS.

The Cypress Camp Trail wildfire

The Cypress Camp Trail wildfire was reported on April 4, 2023, under severity conditions — when the chance of wildfire is high.

Jeff Kemper, the preserve's helicopter squad leader, recalled that when crews arrived the fire was extremely active, with trees torching and embers spotting ahead of it to the west. It quickly doubled in size, and it was clear that stopping it would take major resources — or something else.

That something else was the Perocchi prescribed fire. With the fire's forward run halted, crews could concentrate on the northern and southern flanks and attack it directly. "Without the Perocchi prescribed fire scar, we would not have had a safe anchor point, and would not have been able to construct line as safely or as quickly as we did with the small number of resources we had on the ground," said lead crewmember Josh Moore.

An NPS patrol vehicle on the fire's western side, where its head hit the prescribed burn and stopped. Michael Gue, South Florida Prescribed Fire Manager, NPS.

What the burns prevented

Four prescribed fires were essential in stopping the wildfire at 9,749 acres. Without them:

• it would likely have grown exponentially — in size, cost, risk and unknown consequences;
• models indicate it would probably have kept burning north and southwest, through land with private structures and in-holdings, and across major transportation corridors;
• stopping it would have taken many more resources.

The wildfire stopped where the Perocchi prescribed fires had burned. Michael Gue, South Florida Prescribed Fire Manager, NPS.

The strategy

SFFA works with partners to carry out prescribed fire and fuels treatments across jurisdictional boundaries at landscape scale. Done proactively, these treatments sharply reduce the cost and danger of fighting fire reactively in the worst wildfire conditions.

Sources

Based on "Prescribed Fire: The best defense is a good offense," Big Cypress National Preserve, National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain.