By Juliana A. Torres
Staff Writer

Sixteen acres of Lake Lizzie Wilderness Preserve went up in flames Friday.

The systematic destruction of the county park was purposeful, helping to prevent future wildfires and create habitat for endangered species, like the endangered Florida Scrub-Jays, said Alan Alshouse, senior scientist for PBS&J, which Osceola County contracted to oversee the burn.

Scrub-jays live in low, less dense vegetation. Burning larger vegetation not only clears the land for them to thrive, but stimulates other native flowering plants, keeping them fresh and viable and creating a diverse ecosystem, Alshouse said.

“It enhances the habitat for those birds and the gopher tortoise and other wildlife,” Alshouse said.

He stood on the sandy road on the edge of the land the contractors are burned.

“You can see how thick it is on this side, versus this side,” Alshouse said, pointing to the burned, black landscape and back to the thick vegetation on the other side. “Scrub-jays can't use this.”

The existing roads within Lake Lizzie are made of deep sand and can be used as natural barriers between the parts of the preserve the crews want to burn and the parts that should stay green.

Another reason for the prescribed burns is prevention. Getting rid of heavy vegetation in a controlled setting could prevent future wildfires.

“The fuel loads are not as heavy and thick,” Alshouse said, explaining that, left alone, the heavier brush and plants become a problem. “It provides a lot of burning fuel like that.”

He points to a felled pine tree as the creeping fire, smoldering over the lower brush around it, catches on the green and rust-colored needles. The fire flashes brighter and sizzles, smelling like a campfire as the needles turn into white ash and blow away.

The wind is a key factor in controlling the fire. Early in the morning of the scheduled burn, Alshouse checks the wind conditions. If they are predictable, blowing in one direction away from neighborhoods, he calls to tell his teams to start preparing for the burn.

The lighters, armed with fuel pots, drip a mixture of gas and diesel onto the brush to start the flames. They start along the edge of the sand road and gradually expand the burn area against the wind to prevent the fire from blowing too fast over the downed vegetation.

Even before the day of the burn, large machinery rolls over the vegetation in the area to be burned and chops it all down.

“It makes it easier to burn, with less smoke,” Alshouse said. “We try to make the situation as safe as it can be for the public.”

The ultimate objective for PBS&J is safety. Aside from precautions as lighters burn the vegetation, team members stood along the border of the area and make sure the fire doesn't go too far. They're armed with water in specialized vehicles that hold 4,000 gallons and can shoot the water 150 feet. The tanks pull water with a pump right out of a nearby lake.

Several months of preparation go into the prescribed burns. PBS&J coordinated with the Osceola County Fire Rescue as well as the Florida Division of Forestry. Aside from planning how and where the burns will happen, public hearings were held to inform the surrounding community and signs went up around the entrances to the preserve, explaining why it was closed for the day.

“We kind of explain what we're doing to the community,” Alshouse said. “They understand now that fire is important to the ecosystem in Florida.”

Prescribed burns prevent what happened during the widespread wildfires in Florida in 1998, he said. During that time, fires in northeastern Florida, and some parts of Central Florida, caused $620 million in damage, according to Florida Division of Forestry documentation of the event.

The team had a deadline Friday. The two sections to be burned within the scrub-jay's habitat had to be finished up by 5 p.m. that day.

“This will all get done by then,” Alshouse said, confidently.

The weather Monday allowed for PBS&J to finish “Section H,” farther south of the scrub-jay's habitat. According to their contract with the county, the company has until Sept. 30 to finish all the sections due to be burned within Lake Lizzie Preserve, a total of 168 acres.