Firefighters battle 2 massive wildfires in Florida Panhandle

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) — Firefighters and emergency workers battled two massive wildfires Sunday in an area of the Florida Panhandle that was still recovering from destruction caused by a Category 5 hurricane more than three years ago.

The 8,000-acre (about 3,237 hectare) Bertha Swamp Road fire and the 1,400-acre (567-hectare) Adkins Avenue fire threatened homes and forced the evacuation of hundreds of residents in Bay County, Florida over the weekend. The Adkins Avenue fire destroyed two structures and damaged another 12 homes late Friday. Local emergency official said no homes were destroyed and there were no injuries on Saturday, the second day of battling the Adkins Avenue fire.

“No homes damaged. No injuries to residents or responders. Big win for Bay County!” Bay County emergency officials tweeted early Sunday.

Local authorities said they didn’t know when residents would be able to return to their homes.



Hector Rivera and Wandi Blanco put water on hotspots behind their home in Panama City, Fla., Saturday, March 5, 2022, following a wildfire that started Friday. The fire destroyed two homes next to them and melted the siding off of their home. (Mike Fender/News Herald via AP)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-fires-florida-hurricanes-evacuations-81f0354b5cec820324e313ad5eb7b82d

[Phoenix61]

1. That has been a concern since the day after Michael

ripped through there. The water table has risen so much the ground is too swampy to get the equipment in that could take the fallen trees out. Everyone has been crossing their fingers it wouldn’t happen but we’ve all known we were one lightening strike away from this.

[in2herbs]

2. TFG said that raking the ground would prevent fires. Looks like DeSatan ignored tfg's advice.

I feel sorry for the animals and people who lost their possessions in this fire.

[jaxexpat]

3. It could be time to rethink "engineered forests".

Most of the south, not in agricultural tillage, is what people refer to as "planted Pines". A Single plant species in regular rows with regular spacing. Some is tended by maintenance crews with controlled pre-burning and floor maintenance, most isn't. In either case, none is capable of handling current dry conditions complicated by extreme floor trash. Though it hasn't been seen or practiced since the original settlers cleared the forest 200 +/- years ago, I suspect an aboriginal forest with naturally selected species would withstand weather extremes better than the patchwork of irregularly matured and infrequently cleared/inhabited woodlands we have today. There would certainly be no homes burned if it was uninhabited. No one would care except the critters, most of which don't inhabit the manicured industry standard monocultured forests anyway.