Florida fires closing highways

VOLUSIA COUNTY, FLORIDA — A large wildfire in Volusia County is putting up a lot of smoke, according to the Florida Highway Patrol, which cautioned drivers to exercise caution. A fire in the Tiger Bay State Forest, according to ClickOrlando.com news, is burning along Interstate 4 north of State Road 44 near DeLand. The Florida Forest Service said the fire had burned about 70 acres and was 60 percent contained.

A Florida Department of Transportation highway camera earlier today showed thick dark smoke from the fire, not far from I-4. State troopers issued a travel advisory because of the smoke for motorists in the area both for I-4 and for International Speedway Boulevard.

A 400-acre fire in Marion County, according to WCJB news, also closed roads. Florida Forest Service firefighters were dispatched to an escaped blaze near Gooski Prairie on Friday afternoon. Sheriff’s deputies said parts of County Road 316, from Northeast 175th Street to Fort McCoy, have been re-opened after a closure resulting from the fire and smoke.

Florida Forest Service officials said the fire was at 75 percent containment by 3:30 p.m. By 7 p.m., though, the winds had picked up and carried the fire from 200 acres to twice that size.

The fire started as a controlled burn ignited by a private landowner on Thursday afternoon.

WINK News reported yesterday that firefighters were working on several brush fires across southwest Florida pushed by high winds, including one in Collier County that the Florida Forest Service reported at 300 acres with about 25 percent containment. The Collier County Sheriff’s Office ordered evacuations, but they were soon lifted. The Greater Naples Fire Chief said three homes were burned and more were threatened.

ClickOrlando.com reported that temperatures are expected to climb into the upper 80s over the weekend before cooling down as a weak cold front moves closer to the region, but chances of rain are estimated at just 20 percent.

Wildfire convection may have contributed to a flood advisory

North of Miami

Smoke and flood advisory

There is a discussion on Twitter about to what extent, if any, fire-induced convection and smoke from a wildfire northwest of Miami contributed to downstream precipitation and a flood advisory north of the city. While it happened on April 1, I don’t see any indication that it is a joke.

There is a possibility that outflow from a nearby thunderstorm interacted with the convection and smoke from the wildfire to intensify the effects.

The thread was started by Philipe Papin, a meteorologist with the NWS National Hurricane Center.

One of the fires in that general area is the 12,000-acre L 30 Fire which has been burning since at least March 28.

Wildfires in the Miami area, April 1-2, 2022
Wildfires in the Miami area, April 1-2, 2022.

Busy week of wildfire activity in the South slowed by rain and snow

The Bertha Swamp Road Fire in Florida has burned more than 33,000 acres

Precipitation & wildfire activity, March 12, 2022 United States
Precipitation accumulated in the 72-hour period ending at 6 p.m. March 12, 2022. The black dots represent wildfires March 12, 2022.

After a week of very busy wildfire activity across the Southern Geographic Area, rain and snow have reduced, at least temporarily, the spread of most of the blazes.

The National Interagency Incident Management Situation Report is only issued once a week about six months of the year because there are fewer large fires in the 11 western states during the fall, winter, and spring. This is the National Interagency Coordination Center’s policy “unless significant activity occurs.”

For the 7-day period that ended Thursday night the weekly Sit Report issued Friday morning listed 60 wildfires in the Southern Area that were larger than 100 acres. Those fires covered portions of three pages. The largest was the Chipola Complex that totaled 34,203 acres (and prompted evacuations). Another 10 exceeded 1,000 acres.

In the Situation Report below, scroll down to see the 60 fires in the Southern Geographic Area.

[pdf-embedder url=”https://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Sit-Report-March-11-2022.pdf” title=”Sit Report March 11, 2022″]

 

Chipola Complex of fires

The map above shows precipitation that accumulated over the 72-hour period that ended Saturday March 12 at 6 a.m. CST. A weather station at Panama City just west of the Chipola Complex measured 0.76 inch of rain since March 9. That will be enough to slow the spread of the 33,131-acre Bertha Swamp Road Fire and help the Florida Forest Service (FFS) complete a fireline around it, but some of the heavy fuels left after the passage of Hurricane Michael could continue burning within the interior.

Bertha Swamp Road Fire, March 11, 2022
Bertha Swamp Road Fire, March 11, 2022. Florida Forest Service image.

The Blue Incident Management Team has started transitioning the incident back to the FFS Chipola Forestry Center.

The other two fires in the Complex are the Adkins Avenue (875 acres) and the Star Avenue (197 acres). There has not been much activity on those fires for several days.

The agency reports that Hurricane Michael destroyed 2.8 million acres of trees in the Panhandle and said much of the debris remains on the ground, and will be ready to burn after a few days of dry weather.

Bertha Swamp Road Fire doubles in size to 28,000 acres east of Panama City

The fire doubled in size in 24 hours

9:35 p.m. ET, March 8, 2022

Bertha Swamp Road Fire map
Map of the Bertha Swamp Road Fire, March 8, 2022.

A large wildland fire about 10 miles east of Panama City, Florida has grown substantially in the last couple of days, doubling in size to about 28,000 acres according to the Florida Forest Service (FFS).

On Tuesday afternoon the rapid fire behavior prompted evacuations in the Broad Branch community near Kinard in Calhoun County.

While the weather forecast in the coming days calls for the possibility of rain, it will not be enough, the FFS said, to decrease the wildfire threat any time soon – especially in the Hurricane Michael-impact area.

Bertha Road Fire
Multiple pieces of heavy equipment battle the Bertha Swamp Road Fire. FFS photo.

The fire is part of the Chipola Complex of three fires east of Panama City. The other two are the Adkins Avenue Fire and the Star Avenue Fire. Both of those are nearing containment the agency said. Evacuation orders associated with these two wildfires have been lifted.

The FFS Blue Incident Management Team has assumed command of the Chipola Complex.

Florida Forest Service wildland firefighters and resources from countless other fire and emergency service departments are working around the clock to suppress the wildfires and protect communities. “We are truly grateful for all partners and their support in this fight. We will not back down,” the FFS said in a statement Tuesday evening.

The blazes are fueled by thick, dry vegeation and dead trees left behind after Hurricane Michael in 2018.

On Monday the resources working on the fire included more than 70 tractor-plow units and 10 air assets, including 2 FFS helicopters, 2 FFS fixed-wing aircraft, 2 Florida National Guard Black Hawk helicopters, 2 Florida National Guard Guard Chinook helicopters, and 2 Southeastern Compact single-engine air tankers (SEATS).

Dozers on the Bertha Swamp Road Fire, Florida, March 7, 2022
Dozers on the Bertha Swamp Road Fire, Florida, March 7, 2022. FFS photo.

Additionally, a strike team of heavy bulldozers is focusing on building firelines and defensible space around the communities near Bear Creek. The dozers are better equipped to move large volumes of debris and to establish wider firelines than typical initial attack tractor-plow units.

Wildfire east of Panama City, FL prompts evacuations

Map Adkins Avenue Fire, Florida March 4, 2022
Map of Adkins Avenue Fire March 4, 2022.

A fire on the east side of Panama City, Florida prompted the evacuation of about 600 homes, according to the Florida Forest Service (FFS). As of Friday evening the Adkins Avenue Fire had burned 1,400 acres in Bay County between U.S. 231 and Tram Road, west of North Star Avenue. The blaze is fueled by vegetation that was affected by Hurricane Michael in 2018.

Friday night the FFS reported that two structures have been destroyed and another 12 were damaged.

Helicopter drops water Adkins Avenue Fire
Helicopter drops water on the Adkins Avenue Fire. Photo: Bay County Emergency Services.

At least 200 personnel are committed to the fire including 12 tractor plows and multiple helicopters along with fire personnel from local and county departments.

Red Flag Warnings, March 5, 2022
Red Flag Warnings, March 5, 2022. NWS.

The area is under a Red Flag Warning until Saturday evening for 10 to 15 mph southeast winds gusting to 25 mph with relative humidity of 25 to 45 percent.

Pay raise of $2,500 requested for Florida wildland firefighters

7:46 p.m. EDT Sept 24, 2021

Florida Forest Service
Florida Forest Service photo.

Last week, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried submitted a budget request for fiscal year 2022-2023 that includes a $2,500 pay increase for 932 firefighter and firefighter support positions within the Florida Forest Service.

A vacancy announcement for Forest Ranger, position #42002179 closing today whose duties include forest fire prevention, detection, suppression and pre-suppression shows a starting salary of $29,080 annually, which works out to $13.98 an hour (based on 2,080 work hours per year). This raise would increase it to $15.18 an hour.

Nikki Fried, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Nikki Fried, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

These numbers are similar to the pay for a federal wildland firefighter starting at a GS-3 in most of the United States. Their salary is being temporarily bumped up to around $15 an hour, but there is an effort to rebuild the pay system on the federal side, possibly with a more substantial permanent increase.

Applicants for the Florida job must swear that they have been a non-user of tobacco or tobacco products for at least one year immediately preceding application. They must live within 30 miles of the headquarters, in this case Chipley Florida, throughout employment in the position. Within 6 months of appointment they are required to obtain a Class A Commercial Driver License (CDL).

Over the last three years, Florida Forest Service personnel responded to an annual average of 4,672 fires that burned 147,169 acres, according to a press release from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.