Prescribed Fire Stories

Everglades National Park fire and resource management staff attended the 2nd International Congress for Coastal Protected Areas with Tree Island Ecosystems in Campeche, Mexico, in September 2014. The conference, held at Los Petenes Biosphere Reserve, focused on fire-prone, wetland ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico. This international collaboration reflects NPS interest in maintaining and restoring resilient landscapes.

In 2024, firefighters discovered evidence of a lightning-caused fire at Gulf Islands National Seashore. Dubbed the Pudding Fire, it had been naturally suppressed in an area where extensive mechanical fuel reduction and prescribed fire had taken place.

The Big Sandy prescribed fire at Big Thicket National Preserve treated areas that held plant communities that need frequent fire. These treatments help prevent woody brush accumulation, control invasive plants and insect pests, recycle nutrients into the soil, and encourage new plant growth. The US Fish & Wildlife Service found more than 30 plants and animals associated with longleaf pine ecosystems.

In February and March 2024, Chickasaw National Recreation Area (NRA) completed two successful prescribed fires. Park fire staff and partners treated 536 acres in 2024 which included the Arbuckle Dam and The Point Campground.

In 2024, firefighters burned 233,954 acres across Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park aided with nearly $5 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Years-long efforts paid dividends in 2024 with these public-facing burns sparking an immense amount of communication. This provided opportunities to highlight the role fire plays in the ecosystem and how the process works.

In FY'24, uncrewed aircraft (UAS) were used in Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve to provide an aerial view of the landscape before and after prescribed fires helping to learn how the burn affected vegetation. Getting this view from above has been helpful for mapping and gaining imagery for prescribed fire units and making firefighting a little easier.

In May 2024, Crater Lake National Park fire and fuels staff assisted the Klamath Tribes with the 12-acre North Casino prescribed fire on treaty lands located in Chiloquin, OR. The area had not experienced fire in at least 70 years.

El Malpais National Monument successfully completed two prescribed fires spring 2024. On June 15, shortly after the conclusion of these critical fuels management projects at El Malpais, the park discovered a lightning-caused fire. Fuels reduction resulting from the prescribed fire provided a buffer that greatly assisted firefighters in fire suppression operations.

In 2024, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) provided funding for prescribed fire and mechanical thinning at Cold Harbor Battlefield. These initiatives reduced hazardous fuels on 32 acres while preserving the historic battlefield's appearance and protecting Civil War-era earthworks, wetlands and their buffers.

In late March 2024, staff from 10 different national park units gathered at Spring Gap near Oldtown, MD to conduct a 50-acre prescribed fire at C&O Canal NHP.