As of Monday, more than 2,000 wildfires had burned throughout Florida since the start of this year, and state officials say more than a 120 wildfires continue to burn.
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam says Florida is in the middle of its worst wildfire season in years iwth no end in sight. And, it could get worse as May is usually one of the driest months of the year in Florida. State Forestry officials say conditions are forecast to get even drier into the late spring and early summer. So far, nearly half of Florida’s counties have enacted a burn ban.
And, Putnam encourages the public to continue taking the proper steps to help prevent wildfires by “complying with burn bans, not throwing cigarette butts out of the car, reporting suspicious activity, and helping us to eliminate the number of arsons we’re seeing in the state as well as the number of man-made fires, man caused fires that we’re seeing.”
Last month, Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency. The last time he did so for wildfires was in 2011.
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