Brushfires are starting to happen a bit more frequently this dry season. While brush fires are not totally out of the norm during the winter months, the peak of fire season isn’t until April and May. Those spring fires are mostly caused by lightning. Most of the recent small fires we have seen lately appear to be human caused.
Since last weekend’s cold front, Lehigh Acres Fire Chief has told Fox 4 that they have seen a brushfire almost daily. This is because the colder temperatures last weekend caused stress to local vegetation and daily breeze and lower humidity have helped in carry a flame.
And while we may see some shower activity on Saturday, Florida Forrest Service say these fires will not likely slow down until spring rains return. This is due to current soil moisture levels measured on the Keetch-Bryam Drought Index. This index uses daily 24-hour rainfall totals in combination with high temperature marks to estimate our soil moisture. For comparison sake, that number is typically between 250 and 350 this time of year, during the dry season. The Caloosahatchee Division of the Florida Forest Service is running higher than that, trending drier.
"We are seeing drought indices above 400 for two of our three counties in this district,” said Melinda Anvi, Mitigation Specialist with the Florida Forest Service. “What that means is our soil is getting very, very dry. Our critical fire danger is above 450 and definitely above 500. So, once we see that we are going to be very concerned that even wayward and unintentional sparks may ignite a wildfire that could become a severe one."
Those two counties are Lee and Collier Counties. The other is Hendry, which is not far behind. Meteorologist Andrew Shipley will give you a more detailed report on our fire season next Friday as part of Fox 4’s Severe Weather Preparedness Week coverage.
