southern forests; prevention 
through education was high 
on all State activity lists. In 
the late 1930's, authorities 
began to recognize that the 
prevention and quick 
suppression of fires had 
resulted in a massive buildup 
of fuels and that when 
wildfires did occur, they did 
much greater damage and 
were more difficult to handle. 
Gradually, educational 
programs were modified and 
demonstrations conducted 
to show the need for 
prescribed fire, not only for 
fuel reduction but also for 
disease control and the 
improvement of wildlife 
habitat. 
Change was slow but 
successful. State 
organizations now provide 
assistance to landowners in 
prescribing and using fire as 
a management tool (Hartman 
1949). While all the States 
have laws which permit the 
entry of private property for 
the purpose of fighting 
wildfire, Florida has gone 
one step further in legislating 
authority for the Division of 
Forestry to enter private 
lands to ignite prescribed 
burns, for the purpose of 
reducing hazardous 
accumulation of wildland 
fuels if the owner does not 
object. In the 1977—78 
season, 13,000 acres were 
burned in Florida on absentee 
ownerships. This activity has 
led to increased requests 
from landowners for 
assistance in prescribed 
burning (Wade 1979). 
The success of the fire 
prevention and control 
programs can be judged by 
comparing over several years 
the records of acreages 
protected and the percentage 
of that acreage that burns 
each year (Swager and others 
1958 unpubl.). Table 1 
provides information on 
expenditures, acres 
protected, and acres burned 
since the first Southern States 
began fire-control programs 
in 1916. Though the fire 
situation varies widely from 
year to year, average figures 
provide a good measure of 
performance of the State 
forestry organizations. During 
the twenties and thirties, the 
percentage of forested 
acreage burned southwide 
often ran 5 to 10 percent. 
Today, that figure is 
consistently below 0.5 
percent. 
85 
