Family-friendly festival on Feb. 21 shows the benefits of prescribed fire through interactive games and displays
Hillsborough County, Fla. (Feb. 18, 2026) - Wildfires can be dangerous, destructive, and costly. Prescribed fire, though, can be a valuable tool for improving the ecosystem and keeping small fires from turning into large ones.
On Saturday, Feb. 21, Hillsborough County will host the Prescribed Fire Fest to introduce residents to a land management tactic that's been in use for centuries. Prescribed Fire Fest will include interactive workshops, educational displays, and food trucks. Kids can compete in a variety of games to test their wildland firefighting skills and can even earn their own Junior Wildland Firefighter helmet. The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Edward Medard Conservation Park, 6140 Turkey Creek Rd., Plant City, FL 33567. The festival is free, but the park has an entry fee of $2 per vehicle.
The use of prescribed fire is a time-tested way to apply a natural process under favorable weather conditions, thus ensuring ecosystem health and reducing the risk of wildfire. It is a land management tool used to restore and maintain fire-dependent ecosystems, enhance forest health, improve wildlife habitat, and reduce the chances of dangerous, uncontrolled wildfire by decreasing hazardous fuels.
Fire promotes healthy ecosystems by clearing out competing vegetation, cycling nutrients into the soil, stimulating growth and seed production of fire-dependent plants, and providing food for wildlife. One of the greatest benefits of prescribed fire is that it reduces underbrush, branches, pine needles, leaves, and dead plant debris that build up on the forest floor over time. Reducing these "fuels'' every few years helps reduce the intensity, heat, and destructive force of a wildfire if one occurs.
To help manage the biological integrity of more than 67,000 acres of environmentally sensitive areas, Hillsborough County Conservation & Environmental Land Management conducts dozens of prescribed fires each year on County conservation lands.
What: Prescribed Fire Fest
When: Saturday, Feb. 21, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Where: Edward Medard Conservation Park, 6140 Turkey Creek Rd., Plant City, FL 33567
Link: Photos