Florida is On Fire!!!

I'm sure you have all heard about the wildfires in Georgia and Florida, both of which are causing smoke filled skies from Jacksonville to Miami, but this image from the department of foresty shows exactly how much fire activity is going on in Florida and why we need the rain, to not only end our drought but to also put out these fires.

www.fl-dof.com...



[edit on 5-9-2007 by worldwatcher]

Now THAT is a frightening scenario, ww. I believe it's time to call for re-inforcements.

Any word on what the feds are doing to help in this dire situation?

they're praying for rain like everyone else???


don't mean to make light of the situation, but I don't think there is much that can be done, we're in a drought, so there's more than enough fuel for the fires to continue and the winds from subtropical storm andrea only seems to be spreading the smoke coverage.

Florida...

Drought?....

Never heard the two in the same sentence before! .. Really, I haven't..

Yall are covered by water on all side, except the North.. every time I go to Florida you can time -- 5pm -- every day and there will be a thunderstorm.

How long has the drought been going on? Any online-news videos of it as I don't have a TV.

Thats quite a lot of fires to have at once. They are quite visible from space too, if you go to www.flashearth.com... and select NASA Terra, you can see the smoke coming from them. It's updated daily too, and currently the areas on fire seems to be ringed.

That's terrible. I wonder what exactly is causing the fires to ignite. There has to be a flash point. Most likely, at least by looking at the map, it's not the same point, but there has to be a point where each fire started.

regarding our drought
Upcoming rainy season probably won't end South Florida's drought

Lake Shows Severe Signs Of Florida's Drought
Lake Okeechobee Level One-Inch Away From Record Low Set In 2001

there's lots more but you can google it, I should take a pic of the canal in the back so you guys can see how low the water level has dropped.

Wow,

I knew they were having fires.

But, putting a map to it and actually showing it all.

There is really a lot of fires going right now. I hope everyone is ok.

According to the news some of Florida’s lakes has completely dried up.

Until today I had no idea Florida was under a drought. It’s very weird to me.

The reason I asked, ww, is because, in Canada, where we have an amazing number of forest fires over extensive areas of wilderness, there is a federal service which springs into action quickly.

LINK




To make sound firefighting and forest management decisions, forest land managers need timely and accurate forest fire information.

The Spatial Fire Management System (sFMS), developed by Natural Resources Canada’s Canadian Forest Service, is a program that integrates fire science models into a geographic information system environment.

It is ideally suited to deal with a range of fire management needs, having been developed for Canada, which has 10% of the world’s forests and annually experiences an average of 9,500 wildland fires that burn more than 3 million hectares of forest.

I had expected that there would be a similar concerted federal response from your government.

I live here on the gulf coast and there's fires popping up everywhere. We really need some rain its drier than a popcorn fart.

to be honest Masqua I don't know what is the federal government's involvement. I had thought they only intervene when property was at risk or an evacuation was needed.

i'll have to do some checking..

The map (as posted) appears to shows fire plots beginning from the first of the year. A current map by the USDA Forestry shows far, far less, especially concerning current fires.

Regional current maps are available here to compare.


mg

Hmm. Good ^ post ^ missed_gear. All is not as it seems!

But I also did not know Florida was in draught. I live near Melbourne, Australia, and the storage dams for everyone living here, about 4 million, are so low that they have actually started saying that our situation is not so dire as to require tankers bringing water from somewhere else.

Now when your government starts reassuring you that nothing is wrong, you start worrying.

I was about to say..that map didnt look right. I know about the fires in GA and in bradford (possibly baker)and flagler county....I woke up a few days ago and I thought it was the end of the world due to all the smoke. It seems like there was more smoke in Gainesville when it was just the GA fire..even though it is farther away. Yesterday a friend of mine had ash fall onto his car..he said he thought it was snowflakes

Well I live in the Detroit metro area and this morning I woke up and my truck, truck bed cover was completely covered in a thin coating of white ash.

Strange since their in no fires in our area.

look at this map
activefiremaps.fs.fed.us...

23 fires between Georgia and South Florida.

btw the earlier link I got from a sunsentinel link, i'll have to look for it.

I don't have TV, and yesterday when I walked outside I thought a building was on fire soemwhere around my apt's area. Then I drove off and the whole damn city was 'on fire'.

Don't worry, we'll get rain. Last year I predicted a slow year that would possibly hit higher up the east coast if anything. I'm predicting a powerful hurricane season this year...

I live in Florida. Have for 18 yrs. This wildfire season is the worst I can recall. I woke up the other day thinking my house was burning down, but it was all smoke from a fire more than 350 miles away.

Originally posted by worldwatcher
to be honest Masqua I don't know what is the federal government's involvement. I had thought they only intervene when property was at risk or an evacuation was needed.

i'll have to do some checking..

www.nifc.gov...

The Feds, states, and local fire departments nationwide all coordinate through the National Interagency Fire Center. They have been cooperating for decades, long before FEMA even existed.

National firefighting cooperation and sharing of resources has been going on for so long it is just a normal practice, goes smoothly, and does not draw any media attention.

FEMA has been trying to absorb or take over NIFC for several years but the fire agencies have fought tooth and nail (so far, successfully) to avoid getting sucked into the FEMA/Homeland Security blackhole. No one wants to be part of FEMA or DHS -- not even their current employees.

I hate to point out the obvious during a time of duress but Florida is surrounded by an ocean. Is it not possible to airdrop in ocean water to put out some of these fires? I'm sure better minds than mine have considered that option and have discarded it for SOME reason.
I lived in Orlando for one and a half years and it rained every afternoon without fail. One of the reasons I moved. I don't watch tv so I was unaware of the drought but from the map you provided, it does look as though the entire state is burning. This is fairly alarming. Are there any plans for evacuation?