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Florida Wildfires 2007 Update May 20th, 2007

I finally have some good news regarding the major Florida Wildfires I've told you about previously!

Let start with updates:

The Bugaboo Fire is 80% contained! It is still burning, but it is burning inside of itself and has not jumped the containment lines. The people who have been evacuated are allowed to go home but are asked to remain "on alert". Officials said they are "in much better shape then they were several days ago." Roads in the area are currently open. The Bugaboo Fire has burned 121,319 acres to date. Lightning was the cause.

The Dairy Road Fire in Bradford County is also 80% contained! No new structures have been damaged. 15,009 acres burned, cause of this fire was lightning.

The Balsa Fire in Collier County is 100% contained! 18,027 acres burned, once again lightning was the cause of the fire.

The Flagler Airport Road Fire in Flagler/Volusia Counties is 85% contained! 6,575 acres burned, cause is unknown.

The Red Oak Fire in Lake County is 95% contained! 881 acres burned, cause was not stated.

The Lee Fire also in Lake County is 95% contained! 2,551 acres burned, once again the cause was not stated.

• The last 3 fires mentioned are being investigated by Type III Incident Management Team. I guess that they don't think lightning started the last two. The Airport Road Fire began on a sunny day, not a cloud in the sky I'm almost positive lightning is ruled out as a "suspect".

The Middle Of Nowhere Fire in Charlotte County is 90% contained! 6,500 acres burned, it is located in swamp land somewhere near HWY 3, the cause was lightning.

The BICY Complex Fire in Big Cypress National Preserve in Collier County is a group of fires that appear to have been started by lightning around May 4^th. 42,900 acres total have been burned, it is unclear to me if the Balsa Fire is part of this complex.

Link to other "Significant Florida Fires"

Our Fire Weather Outlook is NOT GOOD

We have very dry conditions and Red Flag warnings throughout the state, with a very slim chance of rain.

The following counties are under a BURN BAN

Alachua
Baker
Bay
Bradford
Citrus
Clay
Columbia
Escambia
Flagler
Franklin
Glades
Gulf
Hendry
Hernando
Holmes
Lafayette
Lake
Lee
Marion
Martin
Nassau Okaloosa
Okeechobee
Palm Beach
Pasco
Polk County
Putnam
Santa Rosa
Seminole
Sumter
St. Lucie
Taylor
Union
Volusia Unincorporated and the cities of DeBary, DeLand, Deltona, Lake Helen, Oak Hill, Pierson

Smoke and Your Health

- If you have a lung condition such as asthma, stay indoors. Run the air conditioner and keep windows closed. If you must go outside, cover your mouth and nose with a handkerchief. Keep windows closed in your car and run the air conditioner.
- If you use an inhaler, keep it handy. If you notice an increase in symptoms, call your doctor.
- Even if you don't have lung problems, you might still suffer from red eyes, a cough or difficulty breathing. Stay indoors as much as possible.
SOURCES: Drs. Richard Lockey, Daniel Haim and Steven Podnos

My Sources: The Florida Division of Forestry, NOAA and The Orlando Sentinel.

Posted by Lysa Napolitano, Call Coordinator ~ Century 21 Sundance on 05/20/2007 09:11 AM

Comments (20)

wildfires, flagler fire, volusia county, flagler county, burn ban, daytona beach

This post has been included in Florida Information

20 Comments on Florida Wildfires 2007 Update May 20th, 2007

MAY

2007

Lysa, that's great news about the containment but mother nature sure isn't being cooperative in helping us stop any new fires from starting. I can see us in a month complaining about all the rain we're getting. lol It's feast or famine.

Maggie, I remember in 04 after Charlie and Frances hit listening to my battery operated radio about the 2nd day in w/o power. People were whining about not having power and I so wanted to yell at the top of my lungs you have a roof over your head! Quit complaining! When I got hot I took a cold shower. I only went 5 days both time w/o power, I survived, I had a home intact and I was thankful.
If it rains on your day off, be thankful, go play in it and don't complain. We need it. (I hope I practice what I preach, lol!)

Lysa-I feel better so it made me think the fires were better contained. I need to pay more attention to this. Thank you for the update!

You know Lysa, I know you like to heat things up a bit out there in Florida, but don't you think your over doing it a little? Take care, and I hope this will end real soon. Best regards as always.

Midori, I'm glad you feel better, but, I saw new smoke on the way home tonight :(.

Bob, you and me both!

Lysa, thanks for the excellent update, have you been picked up by the news yet. They may need someone local ;) on the news the other day, they were expecting the fires to smolder for months burning the peat underground until the rains come.

Gary, Thanks! LOL you don't want me on the news! I get all tounge tied! I'll keep it up here where I can type and backspace. I've heard of the peat fires smoldering, but don't remember where?

Still nothing in the news on the smoke I spotted earlier this evening either. That is a good thing.

Hi Lysa, that is all good news except for the no rain weather forecast. We had two in the area yesterday. And you forgot Brevard County on your no burn list :-) Please don't leave us out. We may suck down here but we do exist:-)

MAY

2007

Hi Terry! I didn't leave you out, here is where I got the info, http://www.fl-dof.com/wildfire/index.html Brevard is not listed as of May 17th to have a Burn Ban. Has this changed? The list is on the right hand side, halfway down the page, I just double checked the map too. You guys don't "Suck" down there either, I have some wonderful friends in Titusville and I love your wildlife park! If this info is wrong please please let me know I will update!! :)

I can't imagine the air quality with so many fires raging. The air was terrible here after the Murano fire and it was just a condo complex. -Charles

Charles, Some days are clear and others not so clear. We went riding yesterday, one would never know there were fires smoldering anywhere. This morning when I got further inland the smoke was pretty bad until the sea breeze kicked in. Isn't Las Vegas in some sort of a valley? Its been SO long since I've been there I can't remember correctly, but that could by why the smoke was so bad.

Hi Lysa, the burn ban was in the paper a couple of weeks ago. But then, down here we are so reactive it wouldn't surprise me that they lifted it and are waiting for some major fires to break out before they implement it again! And yes we do suck down here. All we do is bury gopher tortoises so investors can buy houses they can't sell. And when thousands of people per day move here there is no pre-planning for the infra-structure. We just wing it and hope all will turn out well. We do suck, trust me, I live down here!

Terry Haugen - STAGE it RIGHT!

MAY

2007

Oh Terry, I've been hearing more and more about the gopher tortise and not good things. I thought they were on the endangered list? I just read somewhere where they are going bury a bunch of them to complete a road? I'm going to look more into the burn ban. With the big weekend coming up I want to update that and some more things too.

MAY

2007

Lysa...

Thanks for updating us all on this. I for one appreciate that I can count on you to keep me 'posted' :)

This has to be the worst fire season we have seen in quite awhile. Correct me if I'm wrong. I rarely watch T.V. or read the news. Every time I break down and watch I get depressed. LOL.

TLW...ROAR!

Hi TLW, Thank you. You're right about the worst fire season, they are comparing it to 1997 already. I only watch the news in the AM to keep up with current events myself, and you're so right, it is depressing. I wasn't much of a TV person until the last year myself.

JUN

2007

I heard that some counties are no longer under a burn ban here in Florida as of June 8th, have you heard anything? Fourth of July is right around the corner.... I'm in Brevard County.

JUN

2007

Thanks Lysa. Its amazing those fires are still burning. I heard yesterday Brevard County lifted the burn ban. Guess we had enough rain.

Terry Haugen - STAGE it RIGHT!

JUN

2007

Yay! LOL.... Thanks Terry!

Hi Sharon, sorry I didn't get back to you yesterday I was slammed at work and spent two hours trying to find a replacement phone online when I got home.. (I dropped mine in the water again). I am going to update the burn bans and fires hopefully this weekend.

Terry, Typical huh? Thanks for helping me out on this one. We're still pretty dry here... I've been hearing about fires on the news this week :(

Thanks Lysa, I've been checking online for news on this, and of all places, guess who came up in google about "fire ban florida"?? LOL... yeppers, the Rain and your blog here. With 4th of July around the corner and fines of $500.00 and 60 days locked up at stake, there should be a few people searching info like I did to find this....

Sharon

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