61 FL Counties Named Drought Disaster Areas As Wildfires Grow

The ongoing drought in Florida has created conditions for fresh wildfires popping up in northern Florida as the state faces one of its worst fire seasons in decades.

Because of the drought, 61 Florida counties have been designated as primary natural disaster areas by the United States Department of Agriculture.

As of Thursday morning, there were 134 wildfires totaling more than 25,000 acres, a slight increase in the amount burning, a Florida Forest Service wildfire map shows. The fires are in various stages of being active, controlled or contained.

Earlier this month, nearly 80 percent of Florida was experiencing extreme drought conditions, and nearly all of Florida has faced at least “moderate” drought so far in April, based on data from the U.S. Drought Monitor, according to an April 7 report from NASA.

Dozens of wildfires are burning across the Panhandle and northeast Florida, but the blazes dot the state down to the southern tip.

In Florida, firefighters battled more than 130 wildfires that burned 39 square miles, mostly in the state’s northern half, on Wednesday.

“Florida has got one of the worst fire seasons in maybe the last 30 or 40 years, or it’s turning out to be that way,” state Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson said. “We’ve been in drought for 18 months now all across the state.”

The National Weather Service said a dangerous combination of low humidity and breezy winds would keep the fire danger elevated. Neighboring Georgia has also been devastated by dozens of wildfires.

Smoke drifted to Atlanta, Savannah, and Jacksonville on Wednesday.

The high fire risk was expected to continue each afternoon through Friday due to the very dry conditions, the weather service said.

Help For Agricultural Producers

With the natural disaster designations, USDA’s Farm Service Agency has extended emergency credit to agricultural producers that are recovering from natural disasters in the 61 counties through emergency loans, the agency said.

The emergency loans can be used to meet various recovery needs, including the replacement of essential items like equipment or livestock, the reorganization of a farming operation or to refinance certain debts, the USDA said.

The FSA will review the loans based on the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability.

The deadline application is Dec. 10. Learn more online here.

These Florida counties were designated natural disasters due to drought during the growing season:

• Alachua
• Baker
• Bay
• Bradford
• Brevard
• Broward
• Calhoun
• Charlotte
• Citrus
• Clay
• Collier
• Columbia
• DeSoto
• Dixie
• Duval
• Flagler
• Franklin
• Gadsden
• Gilchrist
• Glades
• Gulf
• Hamilton
• Hardee
• Hendry
• Hernando
• Highlands
• Hillsborough
• Holmes
• Indian River
• Jackson
• Jefferson
• Lafayette
• Lake
• Lee
• Leon
• Levy
• Liberty
• Madison
• Manatee
• Marion
• Martin
• Nassau
• Okaloosa
• Okeechobee
• Palm Beach
• Pasco
• Pinellas
• Polk
• Putnam
• St. Johns
• St. Lucie
• Santa Rosa
• Sarasota
• Sumter
• Suwannee
• Taylor
• Union
• Volusia
• Wakulla
• Walton
• Washington

The following contiguous counties are also eligible for the loan:

• Escambia
• Miami-Dade
• Monroe
• Orange
• Osceola
• Seminole

While “unusually dry conditions gripped the state” most of last year, the drought conditions ramped up in January, NASA said.

Since Jan. 1, some parts of the state have received only one-quarter to one-third of their average rainfall, as Florida experiences its worst drought in 25 years, AccuWeather said.

By mid-February, 99 percent of Florida was in drought, with more than 70 percent of the state classified as extreme drought or worse by late March, AccuWeather forecasters said.

To fully end the drought, at least 2 feet of rain will need to fall over the next three months, or more than 40 inches by the end of the rainy season that starts in October, the Weather Channel said.

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The Associated Press contributed reporting.