HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — As the Tampa Bay Area continues to experience dry conditions, experts want people to do their part in preventing brush fires.
“I saw a sign alongside the road that said smoke ahead, and then I kept a lookout for it,” said Niles Light.
Light didn’t have to go far to feel conditions of a smaller fire near his neighborhood, which the Florida Forest Service marked online as 90 percent contained.
“A little bit of haze in the air. You could smell the smoke,” said Light. “Typically, Florida, you smell smoke because the air is heavy, and it’s damp. It was worse this morning than it was last night.”
It’s a similar story across the Tampa Bay Area. ABC Action News’ chopper captured a glimpse of other brush fires in recent days.
“We are actually right in the middle of our dry season,” said Todd Chlanda, a Wildfire Mitigation Specialist for the Florida Forest Service.
Chlanda explained whether it’s rainy or dry season, their jobs are year-round doing prevention and mitigation work, and every day, personnel are making sure equipment is ready to go to respond.
“We use what’s called a tractor plow unit, and we will go through the forest. We’ll go through the woods. We’ll dig up the ground with our plow and that creates basically a 6- to 8-foot-wide vegetation free area,” said Chlanda. “If there’s no vegetation, then the fire will extinguish itself once it gets to that line.”
At the Upper Tampa Bay Conservation Park in Hillsborough County on Thursday, crews worked a prescribed burn.
“I’m the doctor, and this is a prescription. We write it up, control the fire. We keep it maintained in this unit here,” said Brian Evarts, a Hillsborough County Senior Park Supervisor.
County officials said one of the biggest benefits of prescribed fire is that it cuts back “fuels,” like underbrush, branches, pine needles, and leaves that build up on the forest floor over time.
That in turn can help reduce the intensity, heat, and destructive force of a wildfire if one breaks out.
“It’s been like maybe 20 years since this area’s been burned, so all the dead vegetation, since it’s dry enough, we can get in there and eliminate all that,” said Evarts.
Neighbors like Light also said they do their part to help prevent adding their own fuel to the flame.
“We try to keep our lawns clean,” said Light. “Try to keep the debris off of it. Keep them moist, you know when it’s so hot out, and just be aware.”
Chlanda said particularly people want to be very careful this time of year with any kind of outdoor burning or activities that could create a spark and then a fire, and of course, be aware of any local restrictions or burn bans.
