The 2026 Central Florida Prescribed Fire Council Annual Meeting will be hosted on Friday, October 23rd in Kissimmee, FL at the Osceola Heritage Park (in the Extension Services building). There will be presentations by fire experts, equipment demonstrations, sponsor booths, and raffle prizes. Lunch will be provided.
Florida Certified Burn Manager and
Society of American Foresters (SAF) Continuing Forestry Education (CFE) credit expected.
Osceola Heritage Park
Extension Services
1875 Silver Spur Lane
Kissimmee, FL 34744
If planning to attend, we ask that you respect that this meeting is a free day of education provided by a volunteer based non-profit organization. We will make food plans and accommodations based on registration numbers, so if you register and are later unable to attend, please cancel your registration on EventBrite. We hope that you are able to attend, but if unforeseen circumstances arise and you need to cancel your reservation, see instructions below:
To Cancel Registration, log in to your account on www.eventbrite.com. Click on “Tickets” (found in the dropdown menu at the upper righthand corner of the screen with your username). Once you select the ticket that you would like to cancel, you will see the option to “Cancel Order.”
2025 Central Florida Prescribed Fire Council Hybrid Meeting
Presentation recordings coming soon!
Virtually Hosted with
The Southern Fire Exchange
🔸 Central Florida Fire Weather Outlook for Fire Practitioners (Presentation Recording)
(Zach Law, Senior Meteorologist, National Weather Service)
🔸 Burning for Birds (Presentation Recording)
(Heather Obara, Alachua Conservation Trust)
🔸 Lethal Bronzing Impacts on Forest and Natural Area (Presentation Recording)
(Jeff Eickwort, Forest Entomologist and Supervisor of the Florida Forest Service’s Forest Health Section)
🔸 Fire Regimes in Old-growth Grasslands (Presentation Recording)
(Dr. Raelene Crandall, University of Florida)
🔸 Fire Tools and Weather Training (Presentation Recording)
(CFPFC Steering Committee Members)
🔸 Open Burn Authorization System and FFS update (Presentation Recording)
(John Saddler, Prescribed Fire Manager Florida Forest Service)
🔸 Practitioner and Public Preferences for Smoke Impacts from Prescribed Burns in the S.E. U.S. (Presentation Recording)
(Phillip Rodgers, FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute)
🔸 Perspectives of a Safety Officer (Presentation Recording)
(Willie Cirone, In House Training LLC)
🔸 Tall Timbers New Fire Academy (Presentation Recording)
(Zach Prusak, Wildland Fire Training Specialist, Tall Timbers Research Station)
2024 Central Florida Prescribed Fire Council Meeting
Virtually Hosted with
The Southern Fire Exchange
🔸 2024-2025 Central Florida Fire Weather Outlook for Fire Practitioners (Presentation Recording)
(Zach Law, Senior Meteorologist, National Weather Service)
🔸 Fire Neural Network Finds Lightning Fires Fast (Presentation Recording)
(Dr. Istvan Kereszy, CEO, Fire Neural Network)
🔸 Post Fire Bark Beetle Activity (Presentation Recording)
(Jeff Eickwort)
🔸 Humans, Fire, and Ecosystem Management (Presentation Recording)
(Rick Anderson, CEO, Dos Fuegos Fire Management)
🔸 Florida Forest Service Update (Presentation Recording)
(John Saddler, Prescribed Fire Manager, Florida Forest Service)
🔸 Southern Fire Exchange: A Reintroduction (Presentation Recording)
(Christian Fernandez, Outreach Specialist, Tall Timbers Research Station)
🔸 Tall Timbers Hybrid Training Update (Presentation Recording)
(Zach Prusak, Wildland Fire Training Specialist, Tall Timbers Research Station)
2023 Central Florida Prescribed Fire Council Hybrid Meeting
Virtually Hosted with
The Southern Fire Exchange
🔸 2023-2024 Central Florida Fire Weather Outlook for Fire Practitioners (Presentation Recording)
(John Pendergrast, Senior Meteorologist, National Weather Service)
🔸 Horseback Ignition as an Effective Tool for Modern Prescribed Burn Management (Presentation Recording)
(Chris Schlageter, Natural Resource Manager, YBE Consulting)
🔸 Fire Effects Monitoring: Good Fire or Bad Fire – How do you know? (Presentation Recording)
(Rick Anderson, CEO, Dos Fuegos Fire Management)
🔸 Florida Forest Service Update (Presentation Recording)
(John Saddler, Prescribed Fire Manager, Florida Forest Service)
🔸 Update on the Tall Timbers Fire Learning Portal (Presentation Recording)
(Zach Prusak, Wildland Training Specialist for Tall Timbers Research Station & Land Conservancy)
🔸 Resilience in Prescribed Fire Operations: Individual, Team, and Multiteam System Factors (Presentation Recording)
(Dr. Chelsea LeNoble, Assistant Professor Department of Psychology at UCF)
(Zach Carr, Master’s Student in Industrial-Organizational Psychology at UCF)
(Casey Oberdick, Master’s Student in Industrial-Organizational Psychology at UCF)
2022 Central Florida Prescribed Fire Council Hybrid Meeting
Virtually Hosted with
The Southern Fire Exchange
🔸 Central FL Fire Weather Outlook for Fire Practitioners (Presentation Recording) (Download Slides)
(John Pendergrast, Senior Meteorologist, National Weather Service)
🔸 Bunchgrass Ecology in Southeastern Pine Savannas (Presentation Recording) (Download Slides)
(Dr. Rae Crandall, Assistant Professor of Fire Ecology, University of Florida)
🔸 Prescribed Fire Insurance for Private/Non-profit Entities (Presentation Recording)
(Hinson Arwood, Vice President of Sales, J. Smith Lanier and Co.)
🔸 Burning on Yarborough Ranch, The Stories I’ve Heard (Presentation Recording)
(JK Yarborough, UF/IFAS Livestock and Natural Resources Extension Agent)
🔸 Cost Share Programs for Florida Landowners (Presentation Recording) (Download Slides)
(Will Liner, Cooperative Forestry Assistance Supervisor, Florida Forest Service)
🔸 Engaging the Public in Prescribed Fire (Presentation Recording) (Download Slides)
(Ludie Bond, Public Information Officer and Wildfire Mitigation Specialist, Florida Forest Service)
🔸 Using Terrestrial LiDAR for Forest Ecology (Presentation Recording) (Download Slides)
(Emily Link, Ecologist with LiDAR Monitoring Project, USFWS)
🔸 Florida Forest Service Update (Presentation Recording) (Download Slides)
(John Saddler, Prescribed Fire Manager, Florida Forest Service)
Click Here for a List of Quick Access Links to resources from the presentations at the 2022 Meeting, resources for southeastern fire practitioners and researchers, and links to PFC and partner resources.
2021 Central Florida Prescribed Fire Council Virtual Meeting
Virtually Hosted with
the Southern Fire Exchange
🔸 Welcome and Introductions (Presentation Recording)
(Sammy McGee, Ben Gugliotti, and Brent Saulsbury; Central Florida PFC Officers)
🔸 Fire Training in the Time of Covid-19 (Presentation Recording) (Download Slides)
(Zach Prusak, Wildland Fire Training Specialist, Tall Timbers)
🔸 Florida Forest Service Experience with Ignition Drone Use on Florida State Forests (Presentation Recording)
(Keith Mousel, Withlacoochee Forestry Center Manager, Florida Forest Service)
🔸 Merchandise and Sponsors (Presentation Recording) (Download Slides)
(Brent Saulsbury, CFPFC Treasurer)
🔸 Prescribed Fire in the Wildland Urban Interface: Success Through Collaboration in Florida’s Flatwoods (Presentation Recording) (Download Slides)
(Dr. Patrick Bohlen, Director of UCF Landscape and Natural Resources Program and Brent Saulsbury, Biologist for UCF Landscape and Natural Resources Program)
🔸 Central Florida Weather Outlook and Update for Fire Practitioners (Presentation Recording) (Download Slides)
(Rodney Wynn, Fire Weather Program Manager, National Weather Service)
🔸 A Florida Burner’s Value to Western Fire Contracting (Presentation Recording) (Download Slides)
(David and Brooke Hogrefe, Sandpine Alliance)
🔸 Florida Forest Service Update and Air Quality as it Relates to Burning Authorizations (Presentation Recording) (Download Slides)
(John Saddler and Sean Gallagher, Florida Forest Service)
2019 Central Florida Prescribed Fire Council Meeting
Download Presentation Slides:
🔸 Welcome & Introduction
🔸 Restoration Roller-Chopping
(Paula Benshoff, Robert Dye, and Jean Huffman)
🔸 2019 Florida Forest Service Update
(John Sadler)
🔸 Understanding Duff Fires and Pine Mortality
(Dr. Morgan Varner)
🔸 National Weather Service – Tools, resources, update, and outlook
(John Pendergrast )
🔸 Florida Groundcover
(Jean Huffman)
🔸 Roller Chopping Equipment 101
🔸 Prescribed Fire at the Space Launch Site
(Tim Kozusko and Michael Good)
2018 Central Florida Prescribed Fire Council Meeting
Presentation Downloads
Download Presentation Slides:
- Introduction
- Central Florida Prescribed Fire Council Annual Meeting
- Wildfire Effects on Space Use and Movement of White-Tailed
- Extension Update
- Fire in Wetlands: Fire Ecology & Prescribed Fire Tactics for Managing Wetlands
- Fire Ignition Management with Drones – IGNIS
- Incorporating the BAECV Product Into a Fire History Geodatabase
- In the Rearview Mirror: Are You Making Fire Science Work for You?
- Starting a Prescribed Burn Association – A Landowner’s Perspective
2015 Central Florida Prescribed Fire Council Meeting
Download Presentation Slides:
- Archbold Biological Station Fire Program
Kevin Main, ABS - 2015-2016 Winter/Spring Outlook
Derrick Weitlich, National Weather Service Melbourne - Fresh From the Florida Forest Service
John Saddler, Florida Forest Service - Using Tree Rings To Determine Prehistoric Fire Patterns In Florida
Jean Huffman - Fire in the Evolutionary Environment of FL and the Southeastern Coastal Pla
Reed Noss, University of Central Florida - What is the Ocala Local Implementation Team and Should You Be a Part of It?
Cheryl Millett, The Nature Conservancy - Providing Threatened and Endangered Species Assurances For Prescribed Burning
Stan Simpkins, US Fish &Wildlife Service - Southern Fire Exchange
Alan Long, Tall Timbers Research Station, University of Florida - Practical Advice Learned After 40 Years of Burning
Sam Van Hook, Kissimmee Valley Forester - Saddle Blanket Scrub Preserve
Steve Morrison and Dylan Gavagni, TNC/Florida Park Service
2013 Central Florida Prescribed Fire Council Meeting
Presentation Downloads
- Introduction
- Agencies and Prescribed Fire: To contract or not to contract? What are the questions?
Raquel Flipek; The Nature Conservacy - Prescribed Burning Associations: Land Owners Effectively Applying Fire to the Land
John R Weir; Oklahoma State University - Low Visibility Driving Environment
Florida Highway Patrol Training Academy - National Interagency Prescribed Fire Training Center
Greg Seamon, Fire Training Specialist; PFTC - Southern Fire Exchange Update
Dr. David Godwin, Program and Outreach Coordinator; Southern Fire Exchange - Cogongrass Imperata cylindrica
Greg MacDonald; University of Florida - Outlook Winter/Spring 2014
John Pendergrast; National Weather Service - A Proposal To Improve Safety And The Productivity Of CFPFC Member Burn Activities
Larry Lazar, Account Manager; Car-Comm, Inc.
2012 Central Florida Prescribed Fire Council Meeting
Presentation Downloads
- Introduction
- My Phone Is On Fire: Fire Apps
Mindy Moss, C.B.M.; Legacy Forestry Services - Prescribed Fire Services
- Private Forestry Update
Eric H. Hoyer, C.F. and C.B.M. Legacy Forestry Services - Florida Forest Service Update
John Saddler; Prescribed Fire Manager - Cogongrass
- Pine-grassland Birds and the Effects of Fire Frequency, Seasonality, and Scale
Jim Cox; Tall Timbers Research Station - What’s New at the Southern Fire Exchange?
Alan Long; Tall Timbers Research Station, UF - Apps
- Outlook – Winter/Spring 2013
John Pendergrast; National Weather Service
Central Florida Prescribed Fire Council 