Pocosin fuels have been classified based on species composition, height, and density. A key is available for identifying fuel types. Each type is described in terms of total weight and potential fire behavior. Burns in peat soils have been shown to enhance nutrient availability and increase plant production. These fires do not usually kill plant roots.
Pond pine is also fire-adapted, sprouting from the bole and branches following fire.
Young pond pine also sprout from the root crown. An early May fire in a South Carolina pocosin was prescribed to promote natural regeneration of pond pine, remove the understory, and reduce the fire hazard. Estimated pond pine mortality was only 3 percent. The effects of fire after 20 years of experimental burning in the pine forests of the Coastal Plain were examined. There was no specific reference to pocosins, but it is possible that pockets of pocosin communites were included.