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.
“Unfortunately, the weather people are correct this time,” Florida Forest Service Director Rick Dolan said. “They’re predicting us to be drier through the end of June.”
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Simpson 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 to better help fight fires, Simpson said.
But Dolan said FFS cannot be everywhere and echoed Simpson’s call for homeowners and landowners to take care of the landscaping on their property.
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“The peak fire season is not here yet. That’s usually toward the end of May. We have not received lightning so far. When that comes -- and it’s coming -- we’re going to be as busy as we have been in decades,” Dolan said.
Dolan urged people to go to BeWildfireReadyFL.com to learn how to prepare your yard, home and get a first aid kit ready.
You can watch the news conference below as it aired on the Action News Jax YouTube channel:
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