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Fire-friendly conditions flare up in dry times

The county's high drought index poses a serious risk for wildfires in certain areas, officials say, but they're prepared to fight the blazes.

WIMAUMA - Renee Rende was talking to her mother on the phone June 3 when her fiance, Frank Cosentino, called her to the window of their Wimauma home.

"Look at that," said Cosentino, a retired firefighter. "There's a fire down there."

A 200-acre brush fire was burning just miles from their home, illuminating the night sky with a smoky red glow.

"It was scary, because it was so big," Rende said. "I had never seen anything like that before. ... I was surprised that we didn't hear anything about it."

That should change in the coming weeks and months.

Residents in south and east Hillsborough County will hear a lot more about wildfires and brushfires this summer. The high concentration of brush and farmland tend to make this area a prime location for wildfires, forcing Florida Division of Forestry officials to maintain a close watch.

"This area and south Hillsborough County, the Wimauma area and Fort Lonesome area, tend to be our highest fire occurrence areas," said Pat Keogh, the Division of Forestry's forest area supervisor for Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

Fire and forestry officials have begun gearing up for what could be one of Hillsborough County's driest years in recent memory. Officials have already fought 10 fires of more than 25 acres in 2004, ahead of the pace of the last few years.

"The last two years, we were pretty lucky," said Keogh, who is based in Dover. "The conditions are so dry now that when a fire does start, it's more difficult to contain."

The Division of Forestry maintains a drought index that measures fire-friendly conditions through such factors as dry soil, high winds and low humidity. Hillsborough County reached a peak drought index rating of 565 earlier this year; any rating over 500 indicates a serious fire risk.

As recently as June 4, all of east Hillsborough had a rating of at least 400, with some portions greater than 500. Recent rains have dropped much of Hillsborough County's index to the 300s, but a wide swath of land through Riverview still had an index greater than 400.

Forestry officials conduct regular aerial inspections of these areas to ensure that lightning strikes don't spark sudden fires. And Hillsborough Fire Rescue teams are ready to battle a wildfire at any moment.

"In areas where there's underdeveloped land," said Fire Rescue spokesman Ray Yeakley, "you have fires that can start by lightning strikes and go undetected for a little while, and actually get a head of steam on them before we can get there to do something about it."

The June 3 fire in Wimauma was the largest the county has faced so far this year, but there have been others. A fire on May 29 grew to more than 130 acres near the South Fork subdivision in Riverview. No homes were threatened, Yeakley said, but firefighters spent much of the day extinguishing flames.

Yeakley and Keogh said residents needn't worry about an increase in fire conditions as a result of the the county's new once-a-week watering restriction, approved this week by the Hillsborough County Commission.

The 30-day ban, which went into effect Tuesday, may make yards drier and slightly more combustible, but it won't necessarily result in more brush fires.

Yeakley said few brush fires start or reach landscaped yards, and those that do are easily contained.

"Fires tend to move faster across the finer fuels, like grass," he said, "but they are easier to stop."

- Jay Cridlin can be reached at 661-2442 or cridlin@sptimes.com

- Create a 30-foot buffer zone between homes and brush. Regularly mow and maintain the grass and plants in this area.

- Prune limbs up to 15 feet high on trees near the home, and keep tree limbs at least 15 feet from chimneys.

- Regularly clean leaves from the roof and gutters. Replace wood shingles with flame-retardant or metal shingles or tiles.

- Keep a rake, shovel and ladder handy, along with 50 to 100 feet of garden hose hooked to an outdoor faucet.

- Make sure the home address number is clearly visible from the road so fire rescue authorities can find the site in an emergency.