WeatherWeather Blogs

Actions

Lehigh Acres Fire warns people to prepare for wildfire emergencies

Posted at 5:46 AM, Dec 16, 2019
and last updated 2019-12-16 10:59:05-05

LEHIGH ACRES, Fla.— Lehigh Acres Fire Department posted a warning to the community on Facebook about wildfires Friday.

The post asked people to think about their plan and prep their homes as we see dry conditions continue in Southwest Florida.

It was just in October when the department evacuated 30 homes in Lehigh Acres because of a brush fire. Even though this was before the official start of dry season–– firefighters said the dry conditions and wind made getting the flames under control a little harder.

The Florida Forest Service released a Fire Danger Map map that shows all of Southwest Florida is at a moderate risk for Monday.

This is a slight improvement from the weekendwhere some areas were at a high risk. The drought index map also shows similar conditions.

Rainfall over the past few days has helped improve our dry conditions keeping the risk of wildfires down.

As of Monday, rainfall totals are about a half-inch over where we should be this time of year, and we could see more rain as we move through the rest of the work week.

This will help add some moisture in the ground after a fairly dry November. Numbers show certain areas were just under 1.5 inches in rainfall for the month.

However, people should still listen to first responders' warnings in order to be safe throughout the rest of the dry season.

FOX4 Weather Cameras
FOX4 Tower Cam (Cape Coral)
Luminary Hotel
Bayfront Inn Naples
Tarpon Lodge