Florida burning, from an air attack’s perspective

As Florida fires were peaking in early April I was texting a colleague, Jon Freeman, for updates. I first got to know Jon when he was a fire effects monitor and wildland fire module member and lead. Now his work has taken him to air tactical group supervisor (ATGS), or simply Air Attack – and his recent assignments took him to south Florida. A few texts and shared photos later, it became clear that Florida is a landscape, like so many, where the stories of unwanted hazardous flames burn along side (and sometimes into) the good work of planned fire.

As Jon texted, “It was pretty amazing to watch the head of a large wildfire roll right into this recent Rx fire and basically go out. It threw spots into it that smoldered and put themselves out quickly. So cool.”

He’d preceded his observations with a few photo stories … with these photographs by Michael Gue, prescribed fire manager with the South Florida National Parks and Preserve, as seen at work with a camera and in his photos, documenting his team’s artful fire work. The photos are of the head of the Cypress Camp Trail Fire, stopped by the Perocchi prescribed burn which, as Jon said, demonstrates “the power of Rx treatments.”

The story is amazing, as are the photos … and the story and photos continue from Jon’s perspective, including a few of his images taken while doing the work of the day, with a smart phone.

And what’s a photo story without an end of shift sunset.

Even though we’re filled with such a range of social sharing, it’s not always the case that we can scan the breadth and depth of fire experience at once …  to see and reflect on a month of fire, planned and unplanned, and what happens where they join. Thanks for sharing to Michael and Jon.

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While fire activity moderated with mid-April precipitation, fire season does continue in Florida. In Big Cypress National Preserve, the Sandy Fire has grown to 10,000 acres since it’s discovery on May 1.

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