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ry weather isn't the only reason this summer's Florida forest
fires have been so fierce.
| Florida on fire More coverage from the pages of the St. Petersburg Times. |
"That was partially it," said Mike Kuypers, district manager of the state Division of Forestry's office in Flagler County. Plus, "We really haven't had a bad fire season through here in a number of years, probably since 1989," so a lot of undergrowth had built up.
"The additional moisture this spring did increase the chance for fires," said Jennifer Plyler, a forester with the Society of American Foresters in Bethesda, Md. "The undergrowth serves, basically, like gasoline when it dries out."
Such conditions contributed to one of the nation's worst forest fires in 1910, when a heavy winter snowfall gave way to drought and much of northern Idaho burned.
More recently and closer to home, a similar weather pattern occurred before May 17, 1985, -- the day Florida forest rangers call "Black Friday." That day, after an unusually mild, wet winter, a weeklong series of fires broke out across the state.
Ernie Smith, senior ranger for the Croom forest in Hernando County, said the same conditions exist in the Tampa Bay area.
While two recent fires in Pasco burned 1,000 acres or more, Smith said most fires here have been kept to 10 acres or less.
"We've just been extremely lucky on this side," he said. "We've had several fires, but we haven't been committed to the large fires like they were over there, so we've been able to respond to them quickly."
Smith said high daytime temperatures and low humidity also have been factors.
"We've been faced with just about every variable you could throw
at us this year," he said.
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