The entire state of Florida was ravaged by an unprecedented series of wildland and urban interface fires during the period from late-May to mid-July, 1998. Almost 500,000 acres were burned, along with more than 150 structures and 86 vehicles, in more than 2200 individual fires. The total direct and indirect economical impact of these fires will probably exceed one billion dollars. The damage to timber alone was estimated at over $300 million.
The total response to these fires, combining local, state and federal resources, may be the largest ever assembled in the United States. An estimated total of more than 10,000 fire fighters from across the United States were ultimately involved in the battle to contain the flames. This massive response was required due to the number of fires that were burning simultaneously and the direct threat to dozen of populated communities along the eastern coast of the state. The magnitude and complexity of the operations seriously challenged the capacity of existing incident management systems.
The sequence of events created tremendous challenges for Florida’s fire suppression forces, who experienced more than a month of almost continual operations, battling unrelenting flames throughout the state. This was followed by a long weekend of overwhelming fires that threatened to destroy whole communities. Massive public evacuations were implemented as reinforcements from hundreds of miles away converged to join the battle. While thousands of acres were burned and property losses amount to hundreds of millions of dollars, the fire fighters were successful in preventing the urban conflagrations that were feared as the fires reached their peak. No lives were lost and only one serious injury was reported.
In many respects the situation was similar to several wildland interface fires that have occurred in California and other western states. The Florida fires were unusual because they occurred in a state that is not usually considered to be at high risk for wildland fires, and because of the direct and immediate threat to highly populated areas. These factors once again demonstrate that a change in climatic conditions can create overwhelming fire conditions, in spite of past experience.
The situation is also similar to other major wildland fires in the sense that two different fire fighting components, wildland and structural, had to work together to save lives and property. When a massive fire is moving into a populated area, the only feasible strategy is to identify defensible positions and allocate resources to save the areas that can be safely protected.
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