Plumes of thick, orange smoke and active flames consume dry brush and pine trees as a wildfire burns in North Port. Photo courtesy: North Port Fire Rescue
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MYAKKA CITY, Fla. – Emergency crews are battling a number of wildfires sparked by heavy lightning and severe drought conditions across Southwest Florida.
Florida Forest Service response
What we know:
The Florida Forest Service Myakka River District has responded to more than 35 wildfires since Monday. Firefighters across Manatee and Sarasota counties have battled over 80 brush fires this month alone, which are primarily caused by afternoon thunderstorms bringing damaging lightning but very sparse rain.
To help manage their call demand, additional fire tractors and engines from the Caloosahatchee and Okeechobee districts are being staged in the area.
A heavy bulldozer works to clear scorched debris and establish containment lines through dense smoke to prevent hot spots from flaring back up. Photo courtesy: Englewood Area Fire Control District
Fires kept crews busy this week
By the numbers:
Crews have worked on several blazes this week. A wildfire in the Orange Hammock Wildlife Management Area in North Port has consumed 1,000 acres, while another burned nearly 250 acres in Myakka State Forest off South River Road.
Firefighters also faced a 225-acre wildfire in Parrish and a 150-acre blaze in Sarasota County’s Myakka Valley. On Monday, an afternoon storm rolled in and sparked a five-acre fire in Manatee County’s Panther Ridge, where state lands forester Caroline Ritchey monitored containment lines.
Busier year than normal
What they’re saying:
“I’m just checking to see the fire lines to see how our containment is,” Ritchey said. “This is what we would call an anchor point; you want to make sure that your lines always tie into something that won’t burn.”
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Ritchey noted that winter freezes cured local vegetation, leaving fields exceptionally dry.
“This has been one of the busier years, it compiled we had that couple of hard freezes this winter and that cured the vegetation out there. Everything dried out, we haven’t been getting the rain that we are used to having by this time of year,” Ritchey explained.Â
“When we have our brush trucks and dozers out on fires and committed and new strikes are starting it does stretch us pretty thin,” she added.
Scorched earth and blackened palmettos mark the aftermath of a recent wildfire in Southwest Florida, where severe drought conditions have left local vegetation highly combustible.
Community safety measures
What you can do:
Manatee and Sarasota Counties remain under a burn ban, and fire officials emphasize that residents must take personal responsibility to prevent human-caused blazes.
“We are responsible for what we do. If we are using fireworks, if we are cooking out and dumping coals, we want to make sure those are not hot. Everything we do, we want to be mindful of just how dry it is,” Ritchey explained.
The Myakka River Fire District continues to recheck every previous burn site because wind can quickly cause hot spots to flare up and rekindle.
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Anyone who sees smoke is asked to call 911 immediately.
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