I was watching Fox 35 News out of Orlando last night and I could have sworn the story mentioned Volusia County was under a "Burn Ban"

I pulled up the web site this morning and searched it, nothing about the "Burn ban", watched the story again and it seems to be edited. I checked every local news website and the Daytona Beach News Journal, nothing about a "Burn Ban"

Some natural disasters cease to scare me like they used to.  I know what to do now. I've been through quakes, including the 1989 Loma Prieta Quake, 4 hurricanes, blizzards, ice storms and had few near misses by tornado's, and I watched the 1991 Oakland Firestorm devastate the Oakland Hills from 11 miles away. What scares me? Tornado's and Fire. They are unpredictable, they can pop up where ever they want and like all natural disasters there isn't a whole lot we can do. Why don't quakes scare me? Good question. I've been in enough and met people whose lives have been devastated by them, I should be petrified of them. After the Oakland Firestorm, and seeing how the fury of that fire was, I am petrified by wild fires. It is like the fire has a personality all its own and it WILL NOT be beat down until it is ready to die.

If you watch the story above that I posted, they interview a Volusia County Fire Fighter and he says we're extremely dry, the officials are comparing the conditions to the 1998 fire season they had here in Florida. I wasn't here then, but I remember it well, I was watching it on the news from Upstate NY. Forgive the pun, for the people that did live here back in 1998, that summer is burned into their memory forever. You ask anyone here in Volusia or Flagler Counties and they remember it like it was yesterday.

As far as fires go though we can all do our part to not start one! Our conditions are extremely dry right now, horribly dry, and it doesn't appear we're going to get the relief we need any time soon to help the conditions.

In 1998 one of the wild fires (out of 37 in our area) was started in Flagler County because a hiker didn't want to liter and decided to burn their toilet paper. True Story! Paper will break down, bury it in the dirt, deep, if you have no plastic to carry out of the woods with you for goodness sake. Use common sense.

Lets not throw lit cigarette butts out of our car windows! If your car doesn't come with an ash tray, carry a old water bottle with you, put some water in it and dispose of your lit cigarette into the bottle of water. BBQ away from your house and trees, and use a store bought grill. Use some common sense folks. This is your State, Your County, Your Home, Your LIFE. As Smokey The Bear Says: "Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires!"

Fire Management Information Map This link will take you to an interactive map, click on "Incidents" then "refresh map" and you will see how many fires are burning in Florida currently. There are quite a few, and it is only March boys and girls. Scary huh?