Welcome to

In Florida, 187-thousand acres have burned, left bare by nearly 3-thousand wildfires since January 1st. And the risk of more fires will continue until the state gets rain. A lot of it. As Whitney Ray tells us, the fires are so intense that firefighters from others states are here in Florida helping out.

Monday 100 foot flames rushed toward this dirt road in the Apalachicola National Forest. 24 hours later, controlled burns had trapped the fire, but not before 630 acres sizzled away. Firefighters from North Carolina and Texas are helping contain the flames.

Since the start of the year, 3-thousand fires have burned 187-thousand acres in Florida. There are burn bans in 23 counties.

Division of Forestry Spokesman Todd Schroeder says conditions are so dry… a single spark can burn hundreds of acres.

“Not much moisture in the ground, we got real low humidity and we are starting to see a little bit of an increase in wind,” said Schroeder.

What’s desperately needed now is rain but all too often with the rain comes lightening. The same culprit that started this fire and hundreds more across the state.

The water table is so low in some parts of the state it would take a tropical storm to bring raise the table to a normal level. Firefighters want the rain, but not the destruction.

“Not that we would want to invite tropical storms to the area, but that kind of water that that kind of system brings is really what we need all across Florida,” said Schroeder.

Firefighters are asking homeowners to remove dead limbs and brush from their yards and to clean off their roofs and gutters. Removing the debris lowers the risk of a fire. And if the rain doesn’t come in the next few weeks there could be major implications for Fourth of July celebrations. In some areas Floridians may be celebrating Independence Day without fireworks.