Flagler County and Palm Coast have jointly issued a seven-day burn ban starting today as a result of increasingly dry conditions, which heighten the likelihood of wildfires. The ban is countywide, applying also to Bunnell and the barrier island, including Flagler Beach.
The fire danger index is moderate for the county. The fire danger is high for southwest Florida. Fifteen counties have issued burn bans, all to the south of Flagler, including Volusia.
There is one active, 1-acre fire in the county, at its southwest end. It is contained, according to the Florida Forest Service.
In Palm Coast, water use is rising to alarming levels, a city official said, which could hinder firefighting efforts in big wildfire emergencies.
The burn ban prohibits the following:
- Discharge/use of fireworks, sparklers, flares, or other items containing any “explosive compound”
- Open burning, including the use of fire pits and containers
- Outdoor cookers and grills unless continuously attended by an adult
- Throwing matches, cigarettes, or other burning materials from vehicles
- Parking vehicles with catalytic converters in high grassy areas
“We’re not in the mode where we need to be alarmed today, but [it’s] a great time for us to ensure that our plan is prepared for individuals and as a community,” Palm Coast Fire Chief Kyle Berryhill told the City Council Tuesday evening as he let them know of the coming burn ban.
“In the state of Florida, we’ve experienced some pretty extreme wildfire conditions this year so far, and in Flagler County, we’ve kind of been on the northernmost edge of that,” Berryhill said.
The drought index that measures moisture in the soil on an 800-point scale, with 0 being “swampy,” as Berryhill put it, and 800 being desert-like conditions, is approaching 500 in Flagler County as an average, with the southern half of the county well into the 500s and the northern half a bit less. Bunnell was at 488 today.
“The conditions are becoming favorable for rapid fire growth so this action will help,” Flagler County Fire Rescue Chief Michael Tucker said in a county release. “In addition to the ban on burning, remember that a good offense is the best defense. Clear the area around your house of anything that will go up in flames easily – including stacks of firewood, portable propane tanks, and dead, dry vegetation.”
There is not a drop of rain in sight in the National Weather Service’s forecast for the next seven days in Flagler County. Instead, the weather service projects mostly clear, sunny, dry days, which will keep pushing the drought index up.
The Palm Coast Fire Department has plans in place to “staff up,” Berryhill said, but it’s not near that point right now.
Berryhill said the fire department has been in contact with the city utility to make sure there’s an adequate water supply to protect residents and property.
Residents are not helping. “We did hit 12.1 million gallons per day over the weekend in water, and that is extremely high,” Acting City Manager Lauren Johnston said of water consumption in the city.
Last week, Gretchen Smith of the St. Johns River Water Management District told the council that “irrigation is a big challenge. It’s more than 50 percent of the water used in a household.” Smith cited a University of Florida briefing that found that the “minimum water use per irrigation event would be 991 gallons, but a typical system could use more than double this conservative estimate,” on average lot sizes of 8,079 square feet. That’s the typical lot in Palm Coast.
The city is calling some homes with unusually high water usage and asking them to reduce their lawn watering schedule, Johnston said.
“There are some things that residents can do, like just general policing of their grounds, ensuring that they’re not doing things like storing their grill underneath their soffit, create a defensible space,” he said.
The rule of thumb for taking personal protective measures, accepted by a variety of fire prevention agencies, including the National Fire Protection Association, is that all flammable items within 30 feet of a structure should be removed. Homeowners should clear roofs, eaves, gutters, wood decks and patios of leaves, needles, and other debris.
“Additionally, do not store things under decks or porches, and consider using rocks or gravel in those areas instead grass or mulch,” Tucker said. “Wood-driven fires, like brushfires, create embers that can be carried quite far, and tend to find their way to the same nooks and crannies where leaves accumulate.”
Barbecue coals should be fully extinguished before adding them to garbage receptacles.
“Part of why we have a city 25 years ago is that it’s our mission to not ever have another conflagration like we had in 1988,” Berryhill said, referring to the year when the county was evacuated. “So we’re working hard to continue that.” Since then of course the density of woods in the county, and in Palm Coast especially–what Berryhill referred to as the “wildland urban interface areas” has been replaced by houses, asphalt and lawns.
