TAMPA, Fla. — Thursday night, a prescribed burn turned into a small brush fire at Upper Tampa Bay Conservation Park. However, the person who signed off on the burn says it looked worse than what it was.
Forest Area Supervisor Tom Price says conditions for the land, which is owned by the Hillsborough County Parks and Recreation, were ideal for the burn.
The permit called for a burn of 10 acres of southern rough. Price says it’s basically a lot of palmettos.
The move to burn the rough is set in a three-year growth rotation. The burn is administered to suppress the risk of a brush fire. Price says the burner requests a permit and accounts for what conditions they need. This can include wind and humidity requirements.
Price supervises Polk, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties and talks to the National Weather Service in Ruskin daily.
Every afternoon, the agency gives Price a report for the conditions the next day. Price says when he got the report on Wednesday, the humidity was good and the winds were light and variable.
He admits they weren’t expecting the sea breeze that came later in the day, which led to the brush fire.
Price signs off on permits based on the report, explaining that his team right now is only offering permits to experts. He says the department isn’t allowing residents to burn their trash due to the dry and hot conditions the area is seeing.
Even before the brush fire started, Price said Hillsborough County Fire Rescue was on the scene. The agency and the burner didn’t think a brush fire would start but took the necessary precautions to keep it safe.
The terrain also became an advantage for the forest service. Price says the 10-acre area for the burn is surrounded on three sides by a body of water. He adds there was never any danger to those in the area and no one was evacuated.
A large plume of smoke was seen billowing in the skies around 4:30 Thursday afternoon, with many seeing it on the Tampa bridges. Price admits the location of the burn meant more people would see it. He says the amount of smoke in the air also means there is some moisture in the area as well.
Price says even with the images, there was no danger, pointing to the hundreds of other prescribed burns the county holds that go well. He adds the park has never had an issue in the last 20 years. Price says the prescribed burn coincides with the wildfire season but there is a fine line on when to stop burning.
Friday afternoon, Price said the forest service had about 20 to 30 people still out there mopping the area and taking down trees. But he says they’re not anticipating any changes to the 90% containment.