Crews battle more than 700 acres of wildfires near Tallahassee

(WCTV)
Published: May. 30, 2019 at 1:35 PM EDT
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By: Lanetra Bennett I WCTV Eyewitness News

May 30, 2019

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) -- Several fire crews have been battling multiple wildfires over the past few of days.

The US Forest Service says lightning sparked four wildfires Monday in the Apalachicola National Forest. The fires cover more than 700 acres in the Wakulla Ranger District in Leon County.

Resources are stretched thin. The US Forest Service called in help from out of state to fight the wildfires.

Davis Hill is in from Mississippi. He's helping with the mop up process, which is getting the heat out of the dust piles to reduce chances of the fire spreading.

"It'll jump the line and all of this green vegetation that's behind me, it'll all catch up and it'll be right back to the first of square one, back fighting the fire again what we put out," Hill said.

Aaron Edwards, the incident commander with the US Forest Service, says the fires were easily sparked by lightning because of the drought.

"When we're in those kind of conditions, these fires can start very easily and get up and move with a very rapid high rate of speed," Edwards said.

Crews are spread out with bulldozers, fire engines and water buckets from airplanes. They are doing all they can to completely put the fires out.

"Until we get some good, significant rain, we'll be staffing these fires as long as needed," Edwards said.

Edwards says that can take days, or even months. He says they need at least two or three inches of rain before they can stop monitoring the area.

He says because it is so dry outside, they run the risk of more lightning strikes starting more wildfires this weekend.

The Florida Forest Service says one of the fires jumped onto private property and burned around 10 acres of land. That fire has been contained, and no buildings were in eminent danger.

Officials say all four original wildfires are still burning.


By: WCTV Eyewitness News

May 30, 2019

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – The US Forest Service and the Florida Forest Service are battling four wildfires just west of Tallahassee.

The US Forest Service says all four fires are in or near the Apalachicola National Forest. All of the blazes were sparked Monday by lightning.

The fires have charred hundreds of acres and are 40 percent contained. Crews are using helicopters to drop water onto the flames.

One of the wildfires, the Sand Fly Fire, is burning near the Silver Lake Recreation Area and its smoke has spread into the City of Tallahassee. It jumped onto private property and burned approximately 10 acres outside of the national forest.

The Florida Highway Patrol issued a warning about visibility in the area, saying smoke has moved slowly into Tallahassee city limits. The mixture of smoke and fog can be a visibility concern to some drivers. Officials are asking drivers to travel completely off of the roadway and then come to a stop.