Drought conditions make Florida ripe for epidemic of wildfires

In every corner of our state, severe drought conditions have made Florida a tinderbox. Roughly 100 wildfires are burning about 75,000 acres, and our Florida Forest Service wildland firefighters are working side-by-side with partnering agencies to battle these fires and protect life, property and wildlife. On April 21, Collier County had to evacuate 7,000 homes. We’ve not seen fire conditions this bad since 2011, and we have wildfires burning from the state line to Miami.

Current conditions conjure memories of one of the worst years on record — 1998, when at one time I-4, I-75 and I-10 were all closed at the same time, Disney World was closed, the Pepsi 400 was postponed, and an entire county, Flagler, was evacuated. In 2017 so far, more than 130,000 acres have burned. Many homes have been saved, but some have been lost.

My grandfather used to say, “Extremes beget extremes.” Some of the wettest El Niño cycles that we have are followed by the driest conditions that are ripe for wildfire. These tough drought conditions are worsened by the abundance of undergrowth — brush and weeds — that grows and thrives due to the heavy rainfall the prior year. With dry conditions, all of it turns into kindling that fuels large and swiftly moving wildfires, whether caused by people or nature.

Recently, I asked Gov. Rick Scott to issue an executive order to enable us to use all available resources to combat these wildfires. National Guard UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters are assisting our other aircraft.

Unfortunately, the leading cause of wildfire is human carelessness, such as allowing a debris pile to grow out of control or a spark from an intentional fire to land on dry land and start a wildfire. The second leading cause is arson. We’ve seen a 70 percent increase in arson cases this year compared to last year with 240 so far.

Education and awareness are important components of prevention. Residents should obey county burn bans, which can be found on FreshFromFlorida.com. They can also track current conditions on the website and learn how to create defensible spaces around homes.

The Florida Forest Service will continue to work around the clock to protect residents and visitors, property and wildlife from fire. And I encourage every Floridian to do their part to help prevent wildfires and report any suspected cases of arson.