National Association of Counties * Washington, DC / Vol. 30, No. 14 * July 20, 1998

---

Firefighters from counties across the country have come to the aid of Florida's hard-hit Brevard, Volusia and Flagler counties. Nearly half a million acres have burned throughout the state since Memorial Day weekend. Photo courtesy of the Federal Emergency Management Agency

Closed roads. Smoky skies. Power outages. Spotty telephone service. "Closed" signs at grocery stores. Bumper-to-bumper traffic. Evacuations. Loss of tourism dollars. An entire county, emptied.

Life has been anything but normal for Florida counties in the past few weeks. Not one of Florida's 67 counties escaped the wildfires.

More than 2,000 fires have burned in the drought-stricken state since May 25, scorching more than 483,000 acres, injuring 100 people and damaging or destroying 323 homes. Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles has estimated total losses at $500 million, including property and economic losses.

On June 18, a Presidential Declaration was received, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency, in coordination with other federal agencies, to make direct federal assistance available to the state on a cost-shared basis for emergency measures needed to save lives, protect property and to ensure public health and safety.

On July 3, the 42,000 residents of Flagler County were ordered to evacuate.

President Clinton toured Volusia County and other areas July 9. He praised the tired firefighters as national heroes.

Rainfall 12 inches below normal since March 9

A combination of dry weather, hot temperatures and heavy undergrowth contributed to the conditions that sparked the fires.

The state's dry spell began March 9. Although the state saw almost seven inches of rain that month, five inches fell during the first week. Since then, the state has gotten 3.54 inches of rain, about 12 inches below normal, according to Jeff Wallenfang, a meteoroligist with the National Weather Service in Leon County, Fla.

"We were over 700 on the dryness index, which they tell us is equal to the Sahara," said Don Hendress, Emergency Services public information officer in Volusia County, where 15 percent (137,000 acres) of the county has burned.

The loss in timberland is $60 million and loss to personal property is $2 million in Volusia County, which includes Daytona Beach.

Fighting the fires

Army troops and local firefighters from 41 states, Puerto Rico, Canada and Russia have battled the flames; authorities have deployed about two-thirds of the nation's firefighting helicopters.

"Even out West ... those people say it is a unique experience fighting fires in Florida," Hendress said. "They don't have the thick undergrowth. As the fires burn, they create their own wind and will even create fire tornadoes."

In beseiged Flagler County, more than 40 homes were destroyed by fire. Syd Crosby, clerk of the circuit court, worked around the clock to assemble information packets on the damaged homes for homeowners to give to insurance agents. His office received information from the county property appraiser. The appraiser looked at homes "as soon as he can get into damaged areas," Crosby said.

In Brevard County, at last count, the county saw 70,585 acres burn from 518 fires - the largest fire was 20,000 acres. "We have close to 600 firefighters still here," said Tom Bartosek, public information officer for Brevard County Emergency Management. "It was close to 1,000 at the peak. We have volunteers from every municipality in the county. I would say that easily the majority were from out of the county."

Some 5,336 homes and 336 businesses were threatened; 36 homes and three businesses were destroyed. Cattle roamed the area after 20 miles of fencing burned.

Shelters

Throughout the state, schools were operating as shelters for people whose homes were damaged or destroyed or who were evacuated from unsafe areas.

"We had one public shelter open," said Bartosek of Brevard County. Although 10,000 people in the county were evacuated, only 120 showed up at the shelter. "We assumed that people went to friends' and relatives' homes.

"We have had over 800 in our shelters at night," said Volusia County's Hendress. "As part of our plan, we have animal/people shelters at our fairgrounds. We had over 400 animals and owners at the track."

Florida Association of Counties keeping tabs on members

On the morning of July 7, Vivian Zaricki, executive director, Florida Association of Counties, was working the phones, contacting county officials in the hardest-hit areas.

"This morning we were talking about how well the county emergency management directors have responded," she said.

The quick response to a disaster situation, she said, is partly due to the experience the state had with Hurricane Andrew in 1992. "Since Andrew, we've taken a light-years leap forward to manage these crises. We really learned a lot from Andrew."

Zaricki said county officials in the state are helping each other, "loaning" personnel where they are needed most and assisting in other ways. "I was talking to Alachua County this morning; they took in more than 1,000 animals from neighboring counties."

The private sector has stepped in as well. "Grocery stores have donated pet food and drinking water," Zaricki noted. Thirty tons of donated hay was to be delivered to Leon County for area ranchers.

State and federal help

Counties received help from state and federal officials in a number of ways. The Federal Emergency Management Agency had obligated $65 million in disaster funds so far to Florida for fire suppression grants and other disaster operations. In all, 662 people had called the National Teleregistration Center by July 5 to register for federal assistance.

The Defense Department airlifted 71 firefighting vehicles to the state and 280 firefighters from California, Oregon and South Dakota.

More than 1,500 military personnel were activated, working in a variety of ways. The Georgia Army Air National Guard and others helped with fire fighting, conducting more than 4,000 "water drops" by helicopter.

The Florida Air National Guard used infrared photo-reconnaissance to identify "hot spots" within fires. More than 200 soldiers assisted Flagler, Volusia and St. Johns counties in providing 24-hour site and area security.

Help came in smaller but still important ways as well. Flagler County received $29,000 in communications equipment from the state to help support its emergency management dispatch system. State health department officials were dispatched to make sure food and water was safe. Two counselors per county were deployed to Seminole, Brevard, Volusia and St. Johns counties.

Cleaning up and hoping for rain

While some fires continue to burn, Florida is cleaning up the damage and hoping for rain. "The forestry service tells us we really need 10 inches of rain throughout the whole state," said Bartosek. "It looks like we'll get more rain, but not as much as we need."