LEHIGH ACRES, Fla — Lee County is working on its first-ever wildfire prevention plan to address the fire risk caused by downed trees from Hurricane Ian.
Fox 4’s Austin Schargorodski went to Lehigh Acres to find out how this plan could help one of the county’s most vulnerable areas.
Watch Austin Schargorodski's report here...
Wildfires aren’t new to Lehigh Acres - just this march, Austin was there after a series of fires broke out near neighborhoods. “It was kind of scary that it was so close to the house,” said a neighbor at the time.
Lehigh Acres Fire & Rescue Spokesperson Katie Heck explained how the area’s conditions make it a wildfire hotspot. “We still have between 80,000 to 90,000 vacant lots, and many of them are overgrown with brush and trees and that sort of thing,” said Heck.
Plus, Heck said Hurricane Ian only made things worse. “We did see a lot of downed debris that then died and dried out and is still sitting there, so when something sparks a fire on any of these lots, we see it fuel very quickly and spread fast,” Heck explained.
Lee County wants to develop its first-ever countywide wildfire prevention plan. The county says the plan will work with all 21 fire departments to examine risks, and standardize response, mitigation, and preparedness strategies.
“If it addresses clearing some of that land out and helping to mitigate it in addition to what Forestry does out here - any of that helps,” said Heck.
Funded by a $250,000 federal grant, the county says if approved, the plan will take 12 to 18 months to develop, and will be discussed at a commissioners meeting in January.
“I know it will be a planning process and be a little ways out, but it’s a good time to start talking in the community about brush fire season coming,” said Heck.
To stay prepared in the meantime, Heck said they just brought in a bunch of new hires to join the ranks as the district expands to meet the growing risk. Mitigation is also routine for the Florida Forestry Service. Last year, Fox 4 met with them in Cape Coral after Hurricane Ian knocked down thousands of trees.
“For the next couple of years we can start getting some mitigation done in these areas to reduce the amount of extreme fires we could have,” said Fire Mitigation Specialist Michael Harris.
