Brown-spot defoliation may be more important than height of longleaf seedlings in determining how may 1/2- to 4-foot seedlings will be killed by fire. In a light winter fire maximum mortality was in seedlings 1 to 1 1/2 feet tall. All size classes of seedlings over two-thirds defoliated by the brown-spot needle blight a year before the fire suffered more than 38-percent mortality. Brown-spot reduced fire resistance of seedlings 1/2 to 1 1/2 feet tall more than of seedlings less than 1/2 foot tall. The best way to insure low mortality is to keep seedlings healthy by burning before many of them are more than one-third defoliated by the disease. © Society of American Foresters, Bethesda, MD. Abstract reproduced by permission.