ORLANDO, Fla. – Despite the rain we’ve seen over the last week in Central Florida, the entire state remains in a drought. It’s officially the worst one we’ve seen since 2001, according to Rick Dolan with the Florida Forest Service.
The current conditions make for the perfect recipe for brush fires to form, and Dolan says we’ve already seen a record number.
“A little over 1,600 fires now since January 1, and our annual is about 2,400 so we are two-thirds of the way there three months into the year,” said Dolan.
Back in February, a brush fire raged through a part of Osceola County. Our News 6 crews went back to the area to talk to people who experienced it.
Anas and his son Adam live in Blackstone Landing near where the fire happened.
“I see the smoke and it started burning and it got darker and darker,” said Anas Balafrej.
“We saw this huge fire out, we were shocked, we were looking at it staring,” said his son Adam. “It’s a drought. The worst in 25 years, I feel if a fire starts even a single spark - just no. It’s not going to go well,” said Adam.
For more context on what we are experiencing, weather expert Meteorologist Julie Broughton explained. Check out the video at the top of the story to hear what she has to say.