Despite some recent rainfall, Florida continues to face drought conditions as the state approaches the April–June peak for wildfires.
Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Wilton Simpson urged residents on Friday to take precautions to protect property from fire risks. “We were blessed this last year with no hurricanes hitting Florida directly. But the downside of not having enough rain, obviously, is drought,” Simpson said at the Florida Forest Service Valrico Forestry Station in Dover.
Florida Forest Service Director Rick Dolan described the current conditions as “the driest winter” in recent memory. “We had a nice little shot of rain a couple of weeks ago, a little in the Panhandle yesterday, but there’s no rain in the 10-day forecast now,” Dolan said. “What does that mean for us here in Florida? That we’re going to have wildfires. We had a 40-acre wildfire in north Polk County yesterday, and they just had three to five inches of rain over a week ago.”
More than 232,000 acres of state and federal lands have burned in nearly 3,500 wildfires this year, according to Simpson’s office. In comparison, 2,439 wildfires consumed over 52,161 acres across Florida in 2024.
Governor Ron DeSantis’ proposed $117.36 billion budget includes $4 million to replant trees and timber affected by hurricanes and other natural disasters, along with $64 million for emergency wildfire management. The 2024–2025 fiscal year allocated $45 million for wildfire suppression activities, including equipment and prescribed burns.
Simpson emphasized the goal of preventing catastrophic fires, saying, “The goal is to be able to not have a California, Colorado, Canada type of event. Our goal is to preserve life and to keep our citizens safe and preserve property, and in that order.”
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