Fire risk high in Bay Area as wildfires burn around Florida
TAMPA, Fla. - Bay Area officials are warning residents to be careful with fire as dry weather continues and wildfires burn in other parts of the state.
Of the three wildfires raging in the Florida Panhandle Monday, the Bertha Swamp Road Fire is the behemoth, spanning 13,000 acres and is only 10% contained.
"It has nine of our heavy dozers on it," said Florida Forestry Service’s Brian Prill, and four more en route as we speak. It also has two Florida Forest Service helicopters on it, each of those has a 300-gallon bucket on it, and then we have two National Guard Black Hawks on it, and each of those has an 800-gallon bucket."
The Atkins fire is currently burning across 875 acres and is 40% contained and the Star Avenue fire is 250 acres and 45% contained.
Prill says crews have been working overtime to knock back the flames that have destroyed neighborhoods like Magnolia Hills, just northeast of Panama City, were Hurricane Michael arrived three and a half years ago in October 2018.
MORE: Over 1,000 homes evacuated as firefighters battle Florida Panhandle fires
"The issues that we’re having is we’re fighting fires in the area three years post-hurricane Michael, so you have all of that debris laying on the ground," Prill said.
The forest service believes Michael left behind 72 million tons of destroyed trees.
"With no overhead canopy to provide any shade, it's drying it all out very well," he said.
It’s dry in the Bay Area, too. The forestry service’s map shows moderate to very high fire danger indexes in the region.
The forestry service says heed the burn bans, and with no significant rain heading our way, to remember these tips:
- Avoid parking your car in any type of high grass.
- Check your roof and gutter to make sure they’re clean – even an ember could land in your gutter and take your house out.
- Do not leave any type of camp fire active.
- Mow your law early in the morning when dew and humidity is present.
Humidity is a Floridian’s friend when it comes to containing flames but right now, there’s a need for it.
"They’ve grown in size due to the fact that it’s been very windy, and our humidity has been very low," Prill said.