With debris left behind by last week's storms, the Florida Forest Service is warning families to take steps to prevent wildfires.
“It was very quick. Very frightening,” Dawn Crable said.
She vividly remembers the day a wildfire broke out in Bryceville in 2017. She lived 4 miles away.
“Everybody was going crazy and our neighbor ran down and said we had to evacuate,” Crable said.
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It spread to 700 acres, claiming two families’ homes and damaging six others. The cause – a man burning books in his backyard.
“When the humidity is low and the wind’s blowing, you turn your back for a second -- the next thing you know the fire is off running toward the neighbor’s house,” Annaleasa Winter, with the Florida Forest, Service said.
Northeast Florida is at a heightened risk for wildfires from March at least through May.
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Winter is warning families to clear branches and debris from roofs and yards, creating a 30-foot buffer around your home.
“You want to clean all that off the deck and off the house,” she said. “Mow the lawn and keep it irrigated in that 30-foot zone and make sure firefighters can get access all the way around your property.”
According to Winter, 85 percent of wildfires are caused by humans, many of them because of people burning yard debris.
She says you can block embers from getting in your home with mesh bought at a hardware store.
“Any openings in the house or if the house is elevated,” she said. “A very fine mesh, like (an) eighth-inch or less noncombustible metal screening.”
Check out this piece of equipment @FFS_Jax just got their hands on. This military-grade water tender holds more water and can take firefighters through brush that would be difficult for other equipment to get through @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/puAr4GKnc4
— Brittney Donovan (@brittneyANjax) April 23, 2019
Cox Media Group