Last time Floridians experienced a strong El Niño, we had a mild, extremely wet winter that supported an abundance of understory growth that was left unchecked. After an extremely dry spring, fires ran amok, ravaging most of peninsular Florida. It was after this event, that the US Forestry Service began prescribed burns on a rotational basis. These burns were called controlled burns at that time until the US Forestry Service realized that these too can become uncontrolled, so they renamed them to 'prescribed burns'.

So, we will have to wait until spring and early summer when the effects of this El Niño manifest itself in Florida.