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Archbold Biological Station,
P.O. Box
2057, Lake Placid, Florida 33862 USA |
FAX:
863-699-1927 |
The Wildfire of 12 February 2001 by summary | images | account | effects on research | maps Summary. A wildfire started in mid-morning of Monday, 12 February 2001 along the railroad tracks just south of Archbold's main building and burned about 640 acres of Archbold's 5,140-acre main property (and including the small area that burned the next day from a wind-driven flare-up). This was perhaps the largest single fire on Archbold property in 34 years. The extent of burned pastureland to the west is unknown. Eric Menges, Archbold Plant Ecologist, said, "My impression of this fire is that the intensity was unprecedented and that the heterogeneity was minimal. This was a hot and uniform fire compared to other scrub fires I have seen. The resulting scorched landscape has to be seen to be believed." A major regional drought and recent freezes both contributed to the very dry fuel conditions. The fire burned the center of the Scrub-Jay demography tract (see maps below), an area that has about 10 fires during the last 34 years. Habitats in the fire area form a mosaic of low flatwoods, scrubby flatwoods, rosemary balds, with many shallow seasonal ponds. The two bayheads in the area were burned. Many small slash pines in ponds were likely killed and all ponds were burned completely. Over the weekend of 17-18 February, a cold front moved through peninsular Florida bringing dry air from the north. On Sunday, 18 February, the north winds were strong and in the afternoon another fire broke out of the southern perimeter and burned about 100 acres in SW Tract 18 and NW Tract 19. Day 1 -- Monday, 12 February 2001. Soon after 1030, on 12 February 2001, a small fire was discovered at Archbold Biological Station 1/4 mile south of the Main Grounds and along the railroad tracks. A freight train had passed just before the fire was discovered and examination of the path of the fire indicates ignition probably occurred along the west side of the tracks. Surface winds were slow to moderate from the southeast. Archbold's fire crews were quick to reach the fire and containment was well underway when a small spot got out of control and the fire began its westward advance across the northern part of Tract 18 as a "Plume- dominated" fire. Archbold Land Manager, Rick Anderson, was incident commander. When Tim Elder, Division of Forestry (DOF) Supervisor, arrived, a briefing took place and an incident operational plan was adopted. Backup crews from neighboring volunteer fire departments (Placid Lakes and Venus) responded quickly to the call for support and they provided protection for main grounds buildings. The DOF responded with 3 tractor plow units and 4 fire engines. About 1 hour after the fire started a DOF helicopter landed in the plaza at Archbold to pick up a "Bambi bucket" (a large fabric water tank), and the craft made many trips between Archbold's nearby Lake Annie and the fire dropping water on hot spots. As the main thrust of the fire headed rapidly NW to the Archbold's west boundary (where it crossed the west firelane into the neighboring pastureland of Mr. M. McJunkin), intense flank fires, with flame lengths at 20-60 feet, soon entered Tract 7 along the northeast flank. With the flanking fire rapidly approaching Archbold's buildings, a back fire was quickly lit, and the approaching flank fire pulled the back fire away from the buildings, thus decreasing the risk that sparks might ignite vegetation to the east on Archbold's main grounds. DOF Tractor-plow units established several parallel fire lines along the NE flank in Tract 7 and the NE flank fire was contained within these fire lines. The south boundary of the fire was contained by an east-west sand road. Meanwhile, the DOF helicopter was supporting on-the-ground operations with water drops in several areas. Before dark, DOF crews eventually contained the head fire in McJunkin pastureland about one mile west of Archbold and about 1/2 mile south of SR 70. Day 2 -- Tuesday, 13 February 2001. Although yesterday's wildfire was contained within a perimeter, many smoldering spots remained and the scene was very smoky the next morning. As expected, there was considerable mop-up work extinguishing small fires, and Archbold fire teams were joined by The Nature Conservancy's Florida Scrub-Jay Fire Response Team in anticipation of any fire escaping from the perimeter. As the day progressed, the humidity dropped and winds increased, and a small smoldering patch at the SE corner of the burn flared up and was spotted by TNC fire-fighters. The fire spread westward quickly (the winds did not change direction overnight), again threatening the McJunkin property to the west. The DOF was called again, and responded with 3 fire engines and 2 tractor-plow units. The latter went to McJunkin pastureland to prevent the spread of any escaped headfire. A back fire was set just SW of the perimeter (and within a unit bounded on the south by a sand road) and the advancing fire died when it met the backfire. Day 2 was safely over, but no one relaxed vigilance. Day 3 -- Wednesday, 14 February 2001. The winds shifted, as a warming trend continues, and were now out of the south. Archbold and TNC crews patrolled the fire perimeter looking for hot spots. Nothing flared up and the day was calm for the fire crews. Day 4 -- Thursday, 15 February 2001. No fire activity, although some stumps were still smoldering. Winds were calm to light from the east and south. Mid-day temperatures were in the low 80s. Day 5 -- Friday, 16 February 2001. No fire activity. Winds were calm to light from the east and south. Mid-day temperatures were in the low 80s. Day 6 -- Saturday, 17 February 2001. No fire activity. A cold front was approaching from the northwest. Saturday evening saw the edge of the front pass over Archbold with drier and cooler air and strong winds from the north. Day 7 -- Sunday, 18 February 2001. Winds were strong (20 mph) from the north. The fire perimeter was patrolled at 1230 and 1430 but no fire activity was detected. However, at 1530 Archbold staff saw smoke to the south; a fire had started from a smoldering place and jumped the south-central fire perimeter in the center of Tract 18 west of the central firelane. The fire moved fast through an area last burned in 1999 and was finally contained by 2030 using mostly back fires. A fire plow-line contained the SW break-out, spot fire in Tract 19. Another 100+ acres were burned pushing the fire perimeter to the southern boundary of Tract 18, and into a small NW corner of Tract 19. The Swale in SW Tract 18, which was burned 4 times during the 1990s, was not burned. Archbold crews had 3 fire engines at the fire, the Florida DOF sent 2 fire plows, and Placid Lakes Volunteer Fire Department send an off-road fire engine. Day 8 -- Monday, 19 February 2001. Winds shifted to the NE and E. All day, 3 Achbold engines were patrolling the fire perimeter and also extinguishing all smoldering places. Four DOF trucks were on hand but were called off to other fires in the county. Day 9 -- Tuesday, 20 February 2001. Winds are light from the SE. A Nature Conservancy crew is present to help Archbold crews monitor the remaining smoldering patches. (To be continued.) Some Effects on Research.
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The upper map shows the extent of the 12-13 February 2001 wildfire (in yellow) on Archbold property (white boundaries), but not on the McJunkin property to the west. The lower map shows fire intensity areas. A very high percentage of the fire area was burned intensely because the extended regional drought and recent frosts both combined to make fuels very dry. On both maps, the red star indicates the ignition point of 12 February and the green rectangle indicates Archbold's main grounds and buildings. The maps, based on USGS aerial photography of 1995, are by Roberta L. Pickert, Archbold GIS Lab.
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~ © Archbold Biological
Station, 12 February 2001; last revision 7 March 2002.
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