NATIONAL FIRE/EMS NEWS

BUNNELL, FLORIDA (EmergencyNet News) - Dozens of homes have been destroyed by major brush fires that burned across Florida on Saturday. The fires also forced the closing of Interstate 95 northeast of Orlando. The interstate was closed before a wall of fire two miles long and a mile wide jumped the highway. It remained closed indefinitely because of poor visibility. The same fire destroyed more than a dozen homes near Bunnell before it was contained. One person was treated for minor burns.

In Flagler County, at least 23 homes were destroyed. Many more were damaged by a blaze. About 1,630 acres were reported burned by Saturday night. Two people were injured and two firefighters were treated for smoke inhalation.

Another brush fire burned 1,800 acres in Geneva in eastern Seminole County. It destroyed more than 30 homes and buildings. Two firefighters suffered heat-related illneses. A Fire in Lake County west of Orlando threatened some homes before it was contained. Another 400 acres burned southwest of Titusville in Brevard County.

DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA (EmergencyNet News) - Rain has brought some relief to parts of Florida, where raging brush fires destroyed scores of homes and forced mass evacuations over the weekend. Firefighters waited to see if high winds and hot, dry weather would reignite the fires. No deaths were immediately reported from the fires, which affected northeastern and central Florida, but officials said a 17-year-old girl was missing. Two people were treated for burns and two firefighters for exhaustion. "Rain is the best thing we could hope for," firefighter Paula Ritchy said in Seminole County, where a sudden thunderstorm helped fire crews contain a blaze that burned about about 30 homes. Statewide, 70 homes have been destroyed.

ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA (EmergencyNet News) - At least 11 homes were reported destroyed by brush fires that burned in northern Florida on Monday. Winds of more than 20 mph pushed flames toward neighborhoods.

A brush fire that began on Monday in a rural area quickly covered some 1,000 acres. State Emergency Management Division officials said a dozen new fire outbreaks were reported Monday bringing the number to 68 since Memorial Day in the hottest June on record.

Daytona Beach set a record with 99 degrees (F) and tied the record high minimum temperature at 77 degrees (F). Tallahassee tied its record maximum with 99 degrees (F), as did Orlando at 97 degrees (F).

GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA (EmergencyNet News) - About 1,300 people were forced from their homes in northeastern Florida by wind-driven brush fires as the Southeast portion of the U.S. sweltered in record heat. Homes were spared Tuesday, a day after a dozen homes near St. Augustine burned.

About half the town of Waldo, near Gainesville, was evacuated when the wind shifted and the fire came within five miles of town. The 500 or so residents were allowed to return early Wednesday after 2,500 acres burned. About 200 residents of Penney Farms, located about 40 miles south of Jacksonville, and a nearby housing development were ordered out of their homes. The U.S. Navy also evacuated about 600 people from a Cecil Field Naval Air Station housing unit west of Jacksonville as a fire came within a half-mile of the complex. No structures on the FA-18 jet base were in danger.

The fire danger came as temperatures climbed to record levels for another day. Tampa tied a record at 95 degrees (F), Orlando hit 98 degrees (F) and Daytona Beach reached 100 degrees (F). The city of Jacksonville banned all lawn and landscape watering because of there was not enough water pressure for firefighting.

Brush fires have burned nearly 30,000 acres in 23 Florida counties since Memorial Day. The fires ranged from Jacksonville to Eglin Air Force Base near Pensacola and as far south as Fort Myers in southwest Florida. Dry conditions also fed forest fires in southeast Georgia, about 20 miles north of Jacksonville, where 3,000 acres burned Tuesday. Earlier this week, two separate fires in southeast Georgia destroyed a total of 500 acres. No homes were reported damaged.

JACKSONVILLE (EmergencyNet News) - At least a dozen brush fires are still burning in northeast Florida. Two areas on the west side of Jacksonville near Interstate 10 were evacuated and several local roads were closed as firefighters battled seven blazes on Wednesday.

In Alachua County, two fires that started on Tuesday near the Gainesville Raceway have combined into one that has already burned more than 5,000 acres and remains out of control. The west side of the town of Waldo was evacuated because the fire appeared to be headed in that direction.

By Paul Anderson, ERRI Analyst

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA (EmergencyNet News) - A busy 24 hours was expected as firefighters battled wildfires across Florida and into Georgia under sweltering weather Thursday. So far, more than 50,000 acres in Florida have burned. In the Jacksonville area, more than 400 firefighters helped by aerial tankers battled blazes just west of the city.

In southeast Georgia, fire burned 3,000 acres of parched timberland in Charlton and Wayne counties, located about 20 miles north of Jacksonville, Florida.

Florida officials expected the situation to worsen as temperatures looked like they would climb into the upper 90s with strong winds.

Gene Madden, spokesman for the Florida Division of Forestry, said, "It's just not a stable situation. We have several major areas with very active fires, including sites in the state of Georgia threatening to jump the river and come into Nassau County, Florida."

In Alachua County, nearly 6,000 acres had burned as of Thursday morning in fires that twice prompted the evacuation of homes around the small town of Waldo. So far, no homes have been lost in Alachua as more than 200 fire- fighters and emergency personnel built fire breaks.

Florida state officials are calling it the worst wildfire season in nearly 13 years as high temperatures and low humidity combine to make the state a virtual tinder box.

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA (EmergencyNet News) - Weary firefighters are battling wildfires in 29 Florida counties, making up about a third of the state. Federal help was promised on Thursday to help combat the fires that have charred 50,000 acres, destroyed 80 homes and forced thousands of people to evacuate since the Memorial Day weekend in late May. The most dangerous fires flared in northeastern Florida and along the Panhandle on Friday.

Nearly 8,000 acres burned in Alachua County, where more than 500 residents were evacuated from the town of Waldo, 60 miles southwest of Jacksonville. Flames reached into backyards throughout the city of 1,300 but no homes were destroyed.

In Duval County, nearly 2,000 acres have burned and fires flared west and southwest of Jacksonville. In Wakulla County, 6,500 acres have been charred, threatening about 150 residents from an area around Sopchoppy, a small town on the edge of the Apalachicola National Forest.

Federal aid heavy equipment, aircraft and firefighters are still about three days away. They come at a critical time because the state's resources were stretched to the limit.

May and June have been the hottest and driest on record in Florida. Temperatures have hovered in the high 90s and up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The city of Melbourne in central Florida has had record high temperatures in 14 of the last 18 days. The entire northern two-thirds of the state is at or near the top of the scale used to measure drought risk.

A statewide ban on outdoor burning is in place. Cities and counties across the state were debating whether to curtail Fourth of July fireworks displays because of the fire risk. Though some areas of the state had scattered showers Thursday, the vast majority of Florida remained hot and dry. The National Weather Service forecast called for more of the same as high pressure over northern Florida brought temperatures approaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit with no rain in sight.

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA (EmergencyNet News) - The area scorched by fire in the state of Flordia during the past three weeks climbed to more than 66,000 acres as wildfires were reported in 39 of the state's 67 counties on Saturday. Thunderstorms sweeping across the state's north on Friday did as much harm as good, bringing only scattered rain but heavy lightning that sparked fires across a tinder-dry region stretching all along Florida's panhandle.

State emergency management officials said the last 24 hours had been relatively calm as state and federal crews made progress in containing wildfires in their respective regions. Since 25 May, the fires have killed one person and injured 14. Figures released Friday by state emergency officials said the fires had destroyed more than $13 million in homes, vehicles and timber.

By Paul Anderson, ERRI Analyst

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA (EmergencyNet News) - Fires threatened the north Florida town of Perry on Sunday as three blazes that have burned 10,000 acres in the past 24 hours remained largely uncontained. With nearly 76,000 acres of Florida forest burned in a string of wildfires dating back three weeks, state emergency officials reported somewhat reduced activity on Sunday morning.

Emergency crews continued to work keeping fires from reigniting in temperatures that were expected to again approach 100 degrees Fahrenheit in many parts of the state.

A spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Community Affairs reported, "In Volusia County alone last night, we had more than 50 fires reported."

Florida officials on Sunday released updated damage figures which showed three additional injuries over the past 24 hours, bringing to 17 the number of firefighters injured while fighting hundreds of fires since 25 May that have claimed the life of one victim.

A spokesman for the Division of Forestry, said the situation has improved in the Jacksonville area, where nearly 8,000 acres burned. But other hot spots across the state have flared up.

The spokesman said, "We've made some headway on some of these fires, but the potential for more severe wildfires is extraordinary. We continue to bring in more people to fight the fires, but we need the help of everybody. We need to be very fire conscious."

A fire northeast of Perry, a town of 7,000, prompted county officials to declare a state of emergency as three fires there burned more than 8,000 acres in the past 24 hours. The fires, located in San Pedro Bay, have been difficult to contain because the area is largely a swamp that has dried out due to near record temperatures during one of the driest Junes in state history.

From the Federal Emergency Management Agency

WASHINGTON June 22, 1998 - The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced late Friday, June 19, that direct federal assistance ordered by President Clinton on June 18, 1998 for the Florida fires has been extended to include all counties within the state.

FEMA Director James Lee Witt said the action was approved by the agency after a review of current state firefighting requirements. Counties initially designated for the assistance were Brevard, Columbia, Duval, Flagler, Putnam, Seminole, St. Johns and Wakulla.

Assistance made available under the President's major disaster declaration is currently limited to paying 75 percent of the cost for all required emergency measures undertaken by the federal government to help save lives, protect property, and insure public health and safety. The assistance includes costs for the mobilizing and advance staging of federal firefighting resources to assist state fire suppression efforts as needed.

In addition to this aid, the state's costs for fighting designated fires are being paid at 70 percent federal share under FEMA's fire suppression grant program. To date, this assistance has been authorized by FEMA for the Pine Coast 98 fire in the counties of Flagler, St. Johns and Seminole; the Jacksonville Complex fires in the counties of Bradford, Duval, Nassau, St. Johns and Union; and the County Line fire in the counties of Okaloosa and Walton.

Eligible state costs covered by FEMA's fire suppression assistance can include expenses for field camps; fire equipment use, repair and replacement; tools, materials and supplies; and mobilization and demobilization activities.

Witt indicated that other forms of federal aid involving private and public property losses may be made available later under the President's declaration as the situation warrants.

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From the ERRI Watch Center

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA (EmergencyNet News) - Brush fires continued to scorch northern Florida on Monday. More than 1,000 state firefighters and an equal number of federal and local personnel were battling more than 100 fires across the northern tier of the state in what officials say is the worst fire season in 13 years.

Temperatures approaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit and dry conditions have combined to complicate efforts to contain fires that have consumed more than 85,000 acres in just over three weeks. Weather forecasters predicted continued heat and little rain.

In Perry, a town of 7,000 located about 40 miles southeast of Tallahassee, county emergency officials were chasing a fire in the San Pedro Bay area that threatened the city overnight. The fire has so far consumed more than 16,000 acres but as of Monday afternoon was not imperiling Perry residents.

On Florida's east coast, a handful of fires that threatened residents near Jacksonville were under control, but a series of fires encompassing Volusia, Flagler, Putnam and St. Johns counties remained the most significant threat to populated areas.