Fire in Today's South

Many of the South’s primary ecosystems, including its once vast longleaf pine forests, are adapted to fires occurring frequently and extensively. Upland pine forests, oak-hickory forests, pine and oak savannas, and palmetto grasslands of the region are fire-adapted, as are hardwood and cypress swamps, peat scrublands (pocosins), and extensive marshlands.  The ecosystems with organic soils sometimes burn for years at a time during periodic droughts.

Today, more than half of the area burned annually from wildfire in the United States and roughly 75% of all controlled burning take place in the South (Pyne 1997).  Most of these fire acres occur on public land and industrial pine plantations (Pyne 1997).  Long growing seasons and rapid growth rates of vegetation in the warm, humid climate of the South continue to result in rapid and unrelenting accumulation of underbrush.  Aided by abundant lightning in some areas, the naturally rapid fire return intervals (1-3 years) that are characteristic of many southern ecosystems make it possible for managers and researchers alike to observe the impacts of excluding multiple fires within a single decade.  Even in swamps and other areas having longer fire return intervals, managers have observed the effects of multiple fires.  For example, approximately 234,000 acres of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge burned in 1953-1954 (Trowell 2002; Line 1999); and 117,816 acres burned in 2002 (US Fish and Wildlife Service 2005). Numerous smaller fires were recorded in between (US Fish and Wildlife Service 2005).

Despite the relentless growth of flammable vegetation, both public and private land managers are facing a fire situation of increasing complexity. As the risks associated with prescribed burning increase, some landowners elect not to burn.  Some are using more expensive herbicides and mechanical treatments as an alternative, but others are simply enduring higher fuel loads. Inter-agency fire councils, increased use of the Incident Command System, routine aerial reconnaissance for fire detection, prescribed burner certification, and cross training among structural and wildland firefighters are some of the tools being used to address the situation.