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Wildfires Prompt Pasco Burn Ban
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Published: February 24, 2009
NEW PORT RICHEY - After a Hudson-area brush fire Monday night, the Pasco County Commission enacted an emergency "burn ban" this afternoon.
A ban on most outdoor burning never before has gone into effect so early in the year, Anthony Lopinto, Pasco's director of emergency services and fire chief, said.
Ordinarily, Lopinto observed, wildfires don't begin popping up until later in the spring, a traditional dry period. A Pasco burn ban in 2000 went into effect in the last half of April.
February 2009, however, has brought lots of frost, winds and low humidity that dry out vegetation that can feed fires, Lopinto said. Drought conditions only aggravated the problem this year.
On the Keetch-Byram Drought Index, Pasco this morning had a mean reading of 575, according to the Florida Division of Forestry. On the KBDI 800 denotes the driest conditions possible.
The burn ban is intended to prevent legally set fires from getting out of control and quickly spread because of "human error," Lopinto noted. Arsonists, though, are responsible for some fires, he said.
The 50-acre brush fire Monday broke out near the intersection of S.R. 52 and Moon Lake Road. No houses were damaged in the blaze, although a voluntary evacuation of the Veranda development was ordered before crews from Pasco Fire Rescue and the Division of Forestry brought the fire under control.
A Holiday-area brush fire last week threatened some homes, County Commission Chairman Jack Mariano noted.
A tremendous amount of manpower is needed to contain wildfires, Lopinto said.
Carl Orth can be reached at 727-815-1068 or corth@suncoastnews.com.
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