SANIBEL, Fla. — We all remember those devasting images as wildfires raged through southern California, a little over a week ago.
FOX 4 METEOROLOGIST ANDREW SHIPLEY SPOKE WITH SCCF ABOUT WILDFIRES ON SANIBEL AND THE NEED FOR PRESCRIBED FIRE.
And now some on Sanibel are raising the alarm about their own brush issue. As dead trees and vegetation left behind by Ian, Helene, and Milton, are causing more concerns for wildfires here on the island.
“Obviously the best way to get rid of all this dead vegetation is to have a burn,” said Chris Lechowisz, the Wildlife and Habitat Management Program Director with Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation.
That might sound funny considering the large amounts of fuel on the island, but for Lechowisz returning fire to Sanibel, in the form of prescribed fire, is a big part of the solution.
“A perfect word where we are able to burn on a regular basis, a lot of this dead vegetation would be naturally burned up,” said Lechowisz.
Burning on Sanibel isn’t easy, with perfect weather conditions needed to make it safe and the sheer volume of fuel to burn
“If there is too much of the dead vegetation around, it could be too intense of a fire,” said Lechowisz.
But without prescribed fire, the natural grasslands on the island continue to be taken over by trees and brush.
"As more and more people moved to the island, naturally when a wildfire would start the people on the island would put it out,” said Lechowisz. “And what happens is, the trees and shrubs start to take hold.”
But as the island battles saltwater intrusion and recent storm surge events, those same trees are dying.
“A lot of these trees are not adapted for saltwater, where a lot of the grasslands that we have left, a lot of them bounced right back,” said Lechowisz.
The island now littered with dead trees and brush, mixed between communities, increases the risk of wildfire in those same communities, especially at the beginning of wet season, when the risk of lightning caused fires is the highest.
“With the amount of dead vegetation everywhere, it is very possible,” said Lechowisz discussing the risk of wildfires on Sanibel.
Lechowisz says SCCF is working to mechanically remove some of the dead brush on their land to reduce the amount of fuel, but he adds it is a slow process and very costly.
“Obviously we can’t get rid of all of it, but we want to get it to a level where we can have a prescribed fire in a safe environment,” said Lechowisz.
