Sebastian Duque smelled something burning in his dorm Tuesday night but couldn’t find the source.
The 19-year-old looked up and down his hallway at Buckman Hall. He still saw nothing but smoke, so he ventured outside.
“You could also see some smoke by the street lamp,” the UF animal sciences sophomore said.
The smoke was from a prescribed burn at Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge. A burn was conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Commission 1 mile north of Suwanee Old Town in Dixie County, according to a report from the Florida Highway Patrol. Almost 1,300 acres were included in the burn.
A 92-acre prescribed burn took place Wednesday morning at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, according to another report from the Florida Highway Patrol.
Leda Kobziar, a UF associate professor of fire science and forest conservation, said controlled burns are necessary to maintain an ecosystem. Fire prevents the spread of diseases and pests that affect trees.
Kobziar said there are some issues with controlled burns, including smoke reaching residential areas and roads, which can cause visibility issues. But, she said, a little smoke from a prescribed burn is a lot better than a lot from a wildfire.
Kobziar conducted a survey with other colleagues to gather opinions about benefits prescribed burns to the ecosystem. She found that the managers agreed that controlled burns were beneficial to growth and preventing larger fires.
Controlled burns are also used to decrease the intensity of a forest fire, said Scott Rothberg, a 27-year-old UF doctoral student in design, construction and planning.
“The purpose of this burn was to promote the ecological benefits of fire,” he said.
Rothberg was at the site of the burn Tuesday. He said an important factor was to keep smoke off the road.
Kobziar said another controlled burn is scheduled for Friday near the Florida Museum of Natural History if weather conditions permit.
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 3/19/2015 under the headline “Controlled burn smoke wafts onto campus, concerns students”]
