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Wildfires Burn Four Times More Than This Point Last Year

Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam
Florida Channel

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam is stressing caution as fires rage across the state.  

He says the comparison to last year is striking.

“A year ago there had been under 1,000 fires about 900 fires covering 15,000 acres,” Putnam says.  “This year, in that same time period there have been almost 1,600 fires covering 124,000 total acres state and federal lands.”

In terms of acres, that’s an increase of more than 400 percent.  Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency last week to help fight fires.

Nick Evans came to Tallahassee to pursue a masters in communications at Florida State University. He graduated in 2014, but not before picking up an internship at WFSU. While he worked on his degree Nick moved from intern, to part-timer, to full-time reporter. Before moving to Tallahassee, Nick lived in and around the San Francisco Bay Area for 15 years. He listens to far too many podcasts and is a die-hard 49ers football fan. When Nick’s not at work he likes to cook, play music and read.