SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – Low humidity and windy conditions are raising the risk of fires across Florida. In Central Florida, officials warn that any fire that starts can spread quickly.
“Let’s not have any open burning,” said Assistant Chief Tod Zellers with the Seminole County Fire Department. “No bonfires, no outside cooking. Definitely no brush piles burning. Be aware of your surroundings just because the conditions are there; anything can quickly get out of control.”
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Already this week a home on Laurel Drive in Sanford was damaged in a fire that was likely sparked by a grill. According to a report from the Sanford Fire Department, a man told first responders he was cooking on his charcoal grill on his porch and after he went inside to eat, he noticed his back patio was on fire.
The couple at home when the fire broke out called 911 for help.
“Our house is on fire,” one caller told dispatch. “I think from our grill.”
Fortunately, no one was injured, but the home is uninhabitable due to the smoke and water damage.
Fires burning across the region
Fire crews in Lake County are working to contain the Wiygul Road brush fire in Umatilla, which has burned approximately 120 acres and is at 85% containment as of Tuesday afternoon.
Lake County Fire Rescue, the Florida Forest Service and Umatilla Fire all responded to the scene. Voluntary evacuations for nearby residents have since been lifted, though signs remain posted in the area warning of possible smoky conditions.
In Clay County, footage shared on Facebook by fire crews shows their efforts to contain the roughly 4,000-acre Railroad Fire. Officials there believe it was started by train sparks.
During a press conference Tuesday, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson said fires are burning all over Florida.
“We are going to be staging equipment around the state so we can better respond, just like we would be prepared in a hurricane system,” Simpson said.
Rick Dolan, the director of the Florida Forest Service, said the peak of Florida’s fires season is usually toward the end of May.
“We have not received lightning so far, and when that comes — and it’s coming — we’re going to be as busy as we’ve probably been in decades,” said Dolan.
Dolan also said the current conditions are some of the driest he has seen.
“This is the driest we’ve been in 25 years, and we are experiencing drought conditions statewide that I’ve not seen in my career,” he said.
Fire officials are asking people across the state to be mindful of burn bans, do not throw away cigarettes out the window, clean off roofs and clean out gutters, and make sure there’s defensible space around your home.
News 6 Chief Meteorologist Candace Campos showed us which counties in the central Florida area were under official burn bans as of Tuesday morning -- Orange County and Marion County. Lake County crossed the threshold for a burn ban and was added to the list Tuesday afternoon due to “worsening drought and extreme wildfire condition,” officials said.
“At this point in time, Seminole County, especially areas of Sumter, could get pretty close to even having a new burn ban issued if we don’t get any rain anytime soon,” Campos said.
When asked about the rest of the week, Campos pointed to Tuesday as the most dangerous day.
“As of now, it looks like Tuesday is really the worst of it because that’s where the humidity is at its lowest and the winds are at their strongest,” she said.
Campos also noted just how unusual the current atmospheric conditions are for this time of year.
“At this point, having humidity levels down in the 20s and 30s is pretty unusual. We tend to see that behind those bigtime winter cold fronts in January [and] February. But having the dry air this late in the game with vegetation as dry as it is, that’s where we’re starting to really see things go up in smoke,” Campos said.
How to protect your home from wildfire
According to Firewise.org, burning embers can travel more than a mile on the wind, landing on rooftops, in gutters or against exterior walls and sparking fires far from the original blaze.
Research shows that everything within 200 feet of a home’s foundation — known as the Home Ignition Zone — plays a role in whether a home survives a wildfire. The zone is broken into three areas, each requiring different levels of attention.
The most critical area is the immediate zone — the home itself and everything within 5 feet of it. Firewise.org recommends starting with the structure before addressing the surrounding landscape. Key steps include cleaning roofs and gutters of dead leaves and debris, repairing loose or missing shingles, installing 1/8-inch metal mesh screening over vents and eaves, and moving any flammable materials — including mulch, firewood and plants — away from exterior walls.
From 5 to 30 feet out, the intermediate zone focuses on landscaping. Homeowners should mow lawns to no more than 4 inches, prune trees 6 to 10 feet from the ground to eliminate ladder fuels, space trees so canopies are at least 18 feet apart and ensure no mature tree canopy sits closer than 10 feet to the structure.
The extended zone stretches from 30 to 200 feet. The goal here is not to eliminate fire entirely, but to interrupt its path and keep flames lower and on the ground. That means clearing ground litter, removing dead vegetation and thinning trees so canopy tops have adequate spacing between them.