[pirate girl]

Originally Posted by sunshinegirl

1998 was the worst. All of Flagler County was evacuated. I think all the homes that were lost here were in the "U" section of Palm Coast. To me, it was scarier than a hurricane.

See: www.news-journalonline.com/special/fire98 (broken link)

A friend of mine was the only person to lose his home in the B-Section- and I know of another home in the F-section that was lost as well.

I was in the process of moving to this area when those fires started....


My gut feeling tells me that the Rima-Ridge Fire is going to get worse before it gets better. I saw on Flagler Emergency that they have Cody's Corner on evacuation warning again.

[riveree]

Originally Posted by VAFury

That's the year I was trying to think of.... Dang, it's been 9 years!!

I remember portions of I 95 being closed, etc, Brevard got it pretty bad too if I recall.....

Yeah! It was jumping across I95 and all the smaller highways...so scary! I was in St. Aug at the time and my house backed up to acreage and then US1 and it was jumping US1 at nearby points...I hardly slept during that period of time. That was the worst I've experienced of it. Now all of those woods are houses and I moved to a pretty dense section of Jax, so I don't see much of the fires anymore.

[hiknapster]

The fires have jumped across I-95 a few times in the past nine years.

[firemed]

El Nino years are usually the worse for fires. Last year was a bad year also,but this year with the drought conditions, low humidity, and stronger than normal winds it's a tinder box out there. We still have all the storm debris from the hurricanes of the past few years. A couple of new problems wer'e encountering are the developements that were placed in the middle if very vegetated areas, with zero lot line homes. You have to understand the extreme temperatures a fast moving fire can produce. Radiant heat just from being in the vicinity of the fire can cause the gases from your home to start being extracted ( pyrolithic decomposition ). The only thing we can do is try to protect the homes that are in danger, and build a perimeter around the fire and let it burn all the fuel inside our lines. ( Kind of like a large campfire ) If we tried to totally extinguish these large fires the amount of water nescessary would be tremendous. Given the fact wer'e in one of the worse droughts in our history, it wouldn't be feasible. Right now in Florida we have approximately 22k acres burning as we speak, I just got home and this is the first meal Iv'e had all day. Tomorrow will probably be the same. All of the smoke today was actually from a fire in Georgia, along with the fires we have in Florida. Does anyone know a good rain dance?

[floridamove2]

Originally Posted by firemed

El Nino years are usually the worse for fires. Last year was a bad year also,but this year with the drought conditions, low humidity, and stronger than normal winds it's a tinder box out there. We still have all the storm debris from the hurricanes of the past few years. A couple of new problems wer'e encountering are the developements that were placed in the middle if very vegetated areas, with zero lot line homes. You have to understand the extreme temperatures a fast moving fire can produce. Radiant heat just from being in the vicinity of the fire can cause the gases from your home to start being extracted ( pyrolithic decomposition ). The only thing we can do is try to protect the homes that are in danger, and build a perimeter around the fire and let it burn all the fuel inside our lines. ( Kind of like a large campfire ) If we tried to totally extinguish these large fires the amount of water nescessary would be tremendous. Given the fact wer'e in one of the worse droughts in our history, it wouldn't be feasible. Right now in Florida we have approximately 22k acres burning as we speak, I just got home and this is the first meal Iv'e had all day. Tomorrow will probably be the same. All of the smoke today was actually from a fire in Georgia, along with the fires we have in Florida. Does anyone know a good rain dance?

Thanks for the info.

[vpcats]

I am in Miami and yesterday evening was awful. Smoke filled air and it smelled just like if you had burned a pile of trash. It still did this morning. I had to go out to Walgreen's last night to pick up a script and the visibility was terrible.

[TravelingDude]

Originally Posted by oceandreams94

I am just wondering, how long do these fires last usually? DO they cause alot of damage to peoples houses....are there always lots of reports of people having to move because of this?
When do the fires start and why?

Uh yeaaaah. Fires destroy a lot homes and land. I have relatives in central fla right now and boy they have been coughing and talking with scratchy throats because of the smoke. Been like this for over 2 weeks now.

Last time it was this bad of a fire season was in 1998... just thinking about it makes me feel bad for these people. it felt like Hell's gates opened up in Orlando and smoke was just pouring out continually. we couldn't even get to work because all the hwys were closed in 1998. This hear is just as bad...

but hey there is hope! a tropical storm (an early 1) will put out the fires.

Funny this storm forming 3 weeks before hurricane season officially starts must be the 'warning shot' before the big hurricanes come over.

As i said... it is great not to live in florida.....

[firemed]

Originally Posted by TravelingDude

Uh yeaaaah. Fires destroy a lot homes and land. I have relatives in central fla right now and boy they have been coughing and talking with scratchy throats because of the smoke. Been like this for over 2 weeks now.

Last time it was this bad of a fire season was in 1998... just thinking about it makes me feel bad for these people. it felt like Hell's gates opened up in Orlando and smoke was just pouring out continually. we couldn't even get to work because all the hwys were closed in 1998. This hear is just as bad...

but hey there is hope! a tropical storm (an early 1) will put out the fires.

Funny this storm forming 3 weeks before hurricane season officially starts must be the 'warning shot' before the big hurricanes come over.

As i said... it is great not to live in florida.....

The bad new is the rain will be in the north side of the storm.

[ssg II]

Originally Posted by pirate girl

A friend of mine was the only person to lose his home in the B-Section- and I know of another home in the F-section that was lost as well.
My gut feeling tells me that the Rima-Ridge Fire is going to get worse before it gets better. I saw on Flagler Emergency that they have Cody's Corner on evacuation warning again.

My boyfriend lived in the "B" section then, came VERY close to losing the house. Other friends worked for the county and had to forget about their own house in the "F" section while they worked 24/7.

If we don't get some major rain from Andrea, I'm afraid it's gonna be a re-run of '98. Starting in the same place: Rima Ridge....

[Suncoaster]

I doubt Andrea will get us out of this mess. There's not much rain associated with it, not on the western side. Sad to say, it'll be more of a wind event and do more harm than good.

Yesterday in St. Pete, the smoke was awful! Even with the horrid wildfires in '98 there wasn't as much smoke here. The smoke was so heavy and it got into everything - even inside the house, it smelled like smoke. I can still smell it - nasty acrid odor. My throat was burning, eyes were burning and people are getting headaches from it.

Not as bad off here as just about everywhere else, though. There are fires all over. Collier, Flagler, Volusia, Lee, Hillsborough, Gainesville, everywhere. Alligator Alley was closed for smoke, probably fire in the glades.

Definitely do NOT toss cigs out the window (I never do this, yet I still see litterbugs doing it - heck, they'll toss ANYTHING out the window, grrr).

And someone else mentioned parking on the grass at an airpark. Don't park on tall dead grass, it can ignite. Whole state is a tinderbox, and the paper said 43,500 acres on fire. 200,000 in GA.

Firemed, did you say you are a fire-fighter? Well if you are, many many thanks. The fire-fighters are the real heroes.