Firefighters Protect Four Homes From Florida Brush Fire

SEBRING, Fla. -- Firefighters with the West Sebring Volunteer Fire Department, Highlands County Fire Service, and Florida Forest Service were credited Wednesday with defending four homes near Agora Street and Garland Avenue from a one-acre brushfire.

The fire was called in mid-afternoon after an outside electrical fire caught the dry grass on fire at an Agora Street home.

The fire then spread into a small wooded area and rushed toward several homes on Garland Avenue.

Residents on Garland Avenue across the road from the burning woods rushed to turn on their sprinklers and grabbed hoses to wet their shrubs and roofs in case the fire jumped.

A Florida Forest Service crew used a bulldozer to cut a fire break around the fire, while the West Sebring units using tanker trucks, engines and brush trucks extinguished the blaze with water.

One home unfortunately had damage to its stucco siding, reported Melissa Yunas, wildfire mitigation specialist with the Forest Service. The fire spread from the dry grass into old debris (paint cans) on the side of the house, she said.

The wildfire was contained at 4:20pm.

The Florida Forest Service asks residents to be extremely careful if burning or cooking outside as everything is extremely dry due to prolonged drought conditions.

A caller asked Highlands Today if there is an outside-burn ban in effect, as she had neighbors who burn outside often and leave their fires unattended.

There is no ban on outside burning at this time in Highlands County, said Ben Henley, emergency management coordinator, who said the county follows the lead on the expert advice of the Florida Forest Service on instituting a ban.

"We're not at that level at this time," he said. "There are counties around us that are. I believe Hardee, DeSoto and Glades are."

The county is monitoring the situation, he said. There are areas on the ridge that are drier, Henley said, while low lying areas are part of the county's drainage basin, that are not as dry.

"As a matter of fact (Emergency Management Director Scott Canaday) and I are meeting almost every day on it," Henley said.

Common sense says if a person is burning outside they should not leave the burn unattended.

An Orange Blossom Estates fire that threatened six homes a week ago was caused by outside burning.

Copyright 2012 - Highlands Today, Sebring, Fla.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service