TALLAHASSEE — Tall Timbers and numerous organizations from Florida and Georgia are joining together to host the second Red Hills Fire Festival. The event will be at Tall Timbers, a non-profit wildlife research station and land conservancy, located off County Road 12 just south of the Georgia-Florida border (13093 Henry Beadel Drive). Fire Festival is a general public outreach event to help increase local knowledge and understanding of prescribed fire as a safe way to apply a natural process, ensure ecosystem health, and reduce wildfire risk. The festival will be on January 27, 2018 from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM, with a rain date of February 3, 2018. The event is scheduled to help bring attention to Prescribed Fire Awareness Week starting January 28th in Florida and February 4th in Georgia.
The first Red Hills Fire Festival was held in February 2017 with 600 guests. Organizers are preparing for up to 1,000 people this year. Weather permitting, the event will include three live prescribed fire demonstrations with commentary from fire scientists to explain how the crew performs the controlled burn. 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. Over twenty-five exhibits will be at the festival highlighting live wildlife and science activities, more than twice number included in the first 2017 Fire Festival. 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. Guided wagon tours through the fire managed forest at Tall Timbers will be provided throughout the event. The tours provide the opportunity to see and learn about how prescribed fire helps create important wildlife habitat. Food vendors, including Bradley’s Country Store, the Tally Mac Shack, and more will be selling lunch options.
–USDA NRCS Florida
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