The Red Hills Fire Fest returns this Saturday, February 3rd.
Fire Fest aims to increase awareness of the need for prescribed burns. The event includes fire demonstrations, wildlife, music, and activities for all ages.
The public outreach event is happening on the final day of Prescribed Fire Awareness Week in Florida. It’ll be held at Tall Timbers, located off County Road 12, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Here’s the press release from Tall Timbers:
Join Tall Timbers and more than 30 organizations from Florida and Georgia for the fourth Red Hills Fire Festival.
A public outreach event, Fire Fest aims to help increase awareness and understanding of prescribed fire as a safe way to apply a natural process, ensure ecosystem health, sequester carbon and reduce wildfire risk across the southern pine forest.
The festival will be held at Tall Timbers, a non-profit research station and land conservancy, located off County Road 12 just south of the Georgia-Florida border (13093 Henry Beadel Drive).
The festival will be on February 3 from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The event coincides with and helps bring attention to Prescribed Fire Awareness Week in Florida and Georgia, the two states accounting for the most acres treated with prescribed fire annually.
Weather permitting, the event will include a live prescribed fire demonstration with color commentary from fire scientists to explain how teams safely conduct a burn. This year’s honorary prescribed fire ignitor is WCTV Meteorologist Mike McCall.
More than 30 exhibits will be at the festival highlighting wildlife and science activities. Wildland fire trucks, along with other vehicles and equipment used in prescribed fire will be on display with opportunities to explore the equipment, including milk jug races using the fire hoses.
A technology barn will be set up to showcase the increasing use of tech in prescribed fire. Guided wagon tours through the fire-managed forest at Tall Timbers will be provided throughout the event. The tours provide the opportunity to see firsthand how prescribed fire helps create important wildlife habitat.
The band Two Foot Level will provide a soundtrack for the event, playing from the porch of the historic Beadel House overlooking a vista of Lake Iamonia, Leon County’s largest lake.
Several food vendors will be on-site selling lunch options, including Johnston's Meat Market, Comeback Tacos, The Real McCoy Grillin & Chillin, Pineappetit, Rufus Dogs, and Sweet Cacao.
Tall Timbers was established in 1958 with a mission to foster exemplary land stewardship through research, conservation, and education. The primary research focus at Tall Timbers is the ecology and management of fire-dependent ecosystems and the wildlife they support in the Southeastern Coastal Plain.
Our conservation efforts are dedicated to helping protect the distinctive, rural landscape of South Georgia and North Florida and its traditional land uses. Our education program transfers research and conservation information for resource management and public understanding.
Organizations participating in the Red Hills Fire Festival:
· Tall Timbers
· Longleaf Alliance
· North Florida Prescribed Fire Council
· Florida Forest Service
· US Forest Service- Apalachicola Nation Forest
· Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission
· Gopher Tortoise Program (FWC)
· Private Lands Program (FWC)
· Georgia Department of Natural Resources- Private Lands Program
· Florida State Parks (Florida DEP)
· Lake Jackson Aquatic Preserve (Florida DEP)
· Air Resource Management (Florida DEP)
· National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration- Fire Weather
· Florida State University- Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science
· Southern Regional Technical College
· The Nature Conservancy
· Southern Fire Exchange
· Northwest Florida Prescribed Burn Association
· Quail Forever
· Apalachee Longbeards Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation
· Apalachee Audubon
· Birdsong Nature Center
· Coastal Plains Institute
· Tallahassee Museum
· Apalachicola Riverkeeper
· Magnolia Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society
· North American Butterfly Association, Hairstreak Chapter
· Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy
· Gopher Tortoise Council
· Golden Triangle RC&D
· Apalachicola Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area
· Bradfordville Volunteer Fire Department
