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Polk smoke drifts northwest to Citrus
By PATRICK COOPER © St. Petersburg Times, published February 22, 2001 INVERNESS -- Smoke from the raging Polk County wildfires charged all the way up to Citrus County on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, with its acrid smell causing an increase in 911 calls and warnings from health groups. According to the National Weather Service in Ruskin, light winds overnight pushed the smoke northwest from the site of the fires -- which have burned more than 11,000 acres -- all the way into Citrus. The smell was more intense than the haze because there was almost no wind at the ground level, meteorologist Ron Morales said Wednesday. But Morales thought a sea breeze late Wednesday would push the smoky odor farther inland and out of the area. "The flow is slowly turning around," he said. The Inverness-based Gulfcoast chapter of the American Lung Association issued an advisory this week warning people with breathing problems of the smoke's potential hazards. "It's hard to believe that the smoke came all the way over here," said Anne Black, the lung association's local program coordinator. With the pollutants in the smoke, being outdoors can cause serious health problems for people suffering from lung disease or other illnesses that involve breathing trouble, according to American Lung Association officials. In addition to limiting time outdoors and avoiding strenuous exercise, people should be wary in using the air conditioning systems in their cars, Black said. If the car does not filter the air well, drivers could easily breathe in a great deal of the smoke. As people left their homes Wednesday morning and noticed the smell, the county's Emergency Operation Center saw an increased number of calls from people fearing a fire was nearby, spokesman Joe Stanton said. "Any time we get smoke, (the call load) always increases," Stanton said. "People are always certain there's a brush fire (nearby). It happens like that every time." Despite the false alarms, county Fire Service Director Mike Schlaudraff said residents should not automatically assume all the smoke they smell is from the Polk fires. "We have to be very careful we don't ignore something that's burning just because we believe it's from Polk," Schlaudraff said. "We don't want them to take a chance by not calling in." Before calling, people should walk outside and check, he said. "If you see smoke, you definitely want to call."
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