Increasing Wildfires Across Florida and the Eastern US are Beneficial to the Environment, Experts Say

Wildfires in Florida and the eastern United States are getting larger and stronger and are shifting seasonally, according to an analysis of 36 years of federal burn data by researchers from the University of Florida (UF). The study used data from the Federal Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity Database between 1984 and 2020. Researchers found a significant increase in wildfires across the eastern United States in an area known as the Eastern Temperate Forest, which spans from Michigan southward to eastern Texas, all the way to the Atlantic coast, including Florida. Other research shows that more homes have burned within wildlife perimeters in recent years, according to Victoria M. Donovan, lead author of the UF study and an assistant professor of forest management at the UF/IFAS West Florida Research and Education Center....