{"id":166206,"date":"2026-02-23T22:33:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T22:33:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/166206\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T22:33:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T22:33:26","slug":"over-70-acres-catch-fire-in-2-central-florida-areas-amid-red-flag-warning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/166206\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 70 acres catch fire in 2 Central Florida areas amid red flag warning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. &#8211; A red flag warning is issued for the Florida Panhandle and Florida Big Bend due to low humidity and gusty winds, the National Weather Service <a href=\"https:\/\/forecast.weather.gov\/product.php?site=NWS&amp;issuedby=TAE&amp;product=RFW&amp;format=CI&amp;version=1&amp;glossary=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">reported<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/sanford-grafitti-copy-3-6.png\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-v-97c6a84c=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p data-v-97c6a84c=\"\">the Orlando Fire Department fought a fire on Arnold Palmer Drive on Feb. 23.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WOFL\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-2899190a=\"\">What we know:<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.weather.gov\/media\/lmk\/pdf\/what_is_a_red_flag_warning.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">red flag warning<\/a> is designated when potentially hazardous fire weather conditions are imminent or already occurring, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fdacs.gov\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said.<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox35orlando.com\/weather\/red-flag-warnings-florida-amid-wildfire-threats\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Red flag warnings <\/a>are associated with the largest 10% of fires. The warnings are issued if <a href=\"https:\/\/www.volusia.org\/services\/public-protection\/fire-services\/fire-safety-information\/red-flag-warnings.stml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">relative humidity falls below 35%<\/a> for four hours or more, Volusia County said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">With northwest winds traveling 15 to 20 miles per hour, gusts up to 28 miles per hour, a low humidity of 15 to 18 percent, fires that develop will likely spread rapidly, the National Weather Service said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/sanford-grafitti-copy-3-4.png\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-v-97c6a84c=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p data-v-97c6a84c=\"\">the Orlando Fire Department fought a fire on Arnold Palmer Drive on Feb. 23.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>  Brush fires in Central Florida <\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">Fire crews addressed an eight-acre fire in Orlando, Monday morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">The Orlando Fire Department responded to a fire on the 5500 block of Arnold Palmer Drive around 6 a.m., Feb. 23.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">Around 11 a.m., the fire had spread to eight acres and was 80% contained, the fire department confirmed. No structures were in danger.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">&#8220;We didn&#8217;t encounter anyone out there,&#8221; Spencer Bashinski, Assistant Chief of the Orlando Fire Department, said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">Crews were conducting &#8220;back burning&#8221; to contain the fire in the area, Bashinski said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">The fire department has not determined the origin of the fire.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/sanford-grafitti-copy-3-5.png\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-v-97c6a84c=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p data-v-97c6a84c=\"\">the Orlando Fire Department fought a fire on Arnold Palmer Drive on Feb. 23.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">Fire crews are also fighting a brush fire in Daytona Beach. At around noon, the fire was 70<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox35orlando.com\/news\/fire-crews-fight-daytona-beach-brush-fire-20-acres\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"> acres and 50% contained<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> Drought increases likelihood of fire <\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">The state of Florida is experiencing a drought. While areas of north and south Florida are \u2013 about 67% of the state \u2013 are in extreme drought, Central Florida is experiencing moderate drought and off the coast, near Orlando, is abnormally dry, the U.S. drought monitor shows.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">Within Central Florida, Brevard, Flagler, Marion, Osceola, Polk and Sumter are under a burn ban.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">Bashinski spoke about the dry climate, saying, &#8220;It doesn&#8217;t take much to get fires like this going. The conditions are pretty ripe for brush fires and the wind today is contributing to the growth of this fire.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/u.s.-drought-monitor_-florida-02-23-2026-1.png\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-v-97c6a84c=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p data-v-97c6a84c=\"\">Source: U.S. Drought Monitor <\/p>\n<p>  Current fires in Florida <\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">To view other fires in Florida, view the <a href=\"https:\/\/ffs.firesponse.com\/public\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Florida Forest Service<\/a> website.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>  When will the red flag warning end?\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WOFL\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-2899190a=\"\">What&#8217;s next:<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">A red flag warning will remain in portions of Central Florida through 7 p.m., Monday, Feb. 23.<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source: Information in this story was gathered from the Orlando Fire Department and National Weather Service.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox35orlando.com\/tag\/us\/fl\/orange-county\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-2899190a=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Orange County News<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. &#8211; A red flag warning is issued for the Florida Panhandle and Florida Big Bend&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166207,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[47,115,1335,139,141,140,628],"class_list":["post-166206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-fl","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}