Hillsborough: Drought leads to wildfire worries

Drought leads to wildfire worries

Times staff writer

When about a half-dozen brush fires popped up Saturday around Hillsborough County, firefighters were ready.

"Our personnel have been on high alert for these," said Hillsborough Fire Rescue Chief Bill Kaplan. "They're reacting a lot quicker, making a very quick and aggressive attack on them."

There's good reason to be alert for fires.

Last summer brought a spate of wildfires to the Suncoast, and officials warn this year could be just as bad; the drought index for all of West Central Florida is dangerously high.

"We're starting to see more and more grass fires and brush fires right now," said Mike Ciccarello, district chief for Pasco County Fire Rescue.

Pasco hasn't lost any homes to wildfires this year, but the threat is there. It has a lot of subdivisions, especially in areas such as Hudson and Shady Hills, where homes are along the edges of woods.

"We've been lucky," Ciccarello said. "But with the drought index, the situation is getting pretty critical."

In Tampa, sudden fires Saturday -- none causing serious damage -- served notice of the conditions.

A woods fire at Copeland Park, near the University of South Florida, burned two acres and a wooden boardwalk, authorities said. Although houses with yards are adjacent to the park, the fire was far from them, said Tampa Fire Rescue Capt. Bill Wade.

Pinellas has its share of development crowded against dry, woodsy area, too.

The county's drought index is the highest in the state, making the area ripe for wildfires this season. Pinellas' rating on Friday was 623 on a scale of 0 to 800, with 800 being desertlike and 0 being totally soaked, said Pat Dwyer, a forest ranger with the Florida Division of Forestry. That rating is unusually high for this time of year, and the state has halted all prescribed burns.

The area has had below-average rainfall for more than a year. Dwyer attributes the arid weather to La Nina, the dry aftereffect of the El Nino rains that soaked the region two years ago. As the typically dry spring season approaches, Dwyer and others worry it's only going to get worse.

"I don't think residents should be scared, but they should be aware," said Craig Huegel, manager of Brooker Creek Preserve in north Pinellas County.

Intense development around the perimeter of the Brooker Creek Preserve has prompted county and state workers to plow a 12- to 20-foot-wide fire break to protect homes.

Years in the making, the fire barriers now nearly ring the 20-mile perimeter of the preserve, Huegel said, except for those portions that abut swamps.

"We have to stop fires at those lines," Huegel said. "We can't make a mistake or it will go into someone's yard."

Another protection against wildfires has been an aggressive prescribed burn plan. Brooker Creek and state forestry workers plan to burn small, manageable portions of the preserve on a three- to five-year cycle, the same as nature historically did.

In addition to the ecological benefits, the prescribed burns serve as an important barrier for neighboring residents.

Just over a week ago, a wildfire claimed 20 acres in the preserve and was stopped a few feet from the back yards of several homes.

The fire barriers worked, Huegel said.