As drought conditions persist throughout the state, Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Wilton Simpson on Friday urged Floridians to take precautions to protect their property from risks of wildfires.
“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 during an appearance at the Florida Forest Service Valrico Forestry Station in Dover.
Despite some recent rainfall, Florida remains in drought conditions months out from April, May, and June peak for wildfires.
“The goal is to be able to not have a California, Colorado, Canada type of event,” Simpson said. “Our goal is to preserve life and to keep our citizens safe and preserve property, and in that order.”
While the state is vulnerable to wildfires year-round, Florida Forest Service Director Rick Dolan called current conditions “the driest winter” in recent memory.
“We had a nice little shot of rain a couple of weeks ago, had a little bit 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 just over a week ago.”
More than 232,000 acres of state and federal lands in Florida have been consumed by nearly 3,500 wildfires this year, according to Simpson’s office. In 2024, 2,439 wildfires burned more than 52,161 acres across the state.
As part of a recommended $117.36 billion budget introduced recently, Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed $4 million to replant trees and timber impacted by hurricanes and natural disasters, which would maintain the current level of funding.
DeSantis’ proposal also includes $64 million for emergency wildfire management.
The budget for 2024-2025 fiscal year, which ends June 30, included $45 million to combat wildfires. The funds included money for equipment and wildfire suppression activities, such as prescribed burning.