CLAY COUNTY, Fla. — Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson and Florida Forest Service leadership gave an update Tuesday in Green Cove Springs on the Railroad fire in Clay and Putnam counties.
Simpson said that the state is going to be in drought conditions for the next two months, so there will be more wildfires ahead.
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“Florida has got one of the worst fire seasons in maybe the last 30 or 40 years, or it’s turning out to be that way,” Simpson said.
He urged homeowners to make sure that there is “defensible space” around their homes. This “increases the likelihood that a home will survive a wildfire even in the absence of firefighters,” according to the Florida Department of Agriculture.
Simpson said Florida Forest Service firefighting equipment, such as bulldozers, will be staged in Tallahassee, Cross City, Cecil Airport in Jacksonville and Lake City.
In the past three years, FFS has replaced 100 aging dozers, Simpson said.
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