Tampa Bay Online

Fire at Lake Okeechobee: 400 acres and growing

By ROBERT BOYER

September 21, 2011

http://www2.highlandstoday.com/content/2011/sep/21/211334/fire-at-lake-okeechobee-400-acres-and-growing/

A wildfire inside the Lake Okeechobee levee that began Tuesday has already burned 400 acres and could consume 12,000 acres, says Melissa Yunas, a wildfire mitigation specialist with the Florida Forest Service.

The lightning-sparked fire is between Hunter Road and the Indian Prairie Canal.

Forest Service officials were notified of a 10-acre fire at the lake around 6 p.m. Tuesday, Yunas said. "Due to dry conditions, the lake level is down and very receptive to burning. State and county firefighters are patrolling the lake to make sure that fire is contained within the lake bed."

Although there is "minimal threat to the communities that border Lake Okeechobee … the dry marsh and grass islands within the lake are burning and causing a smoke nuisance," Yunas said.

Poor access to the slow-burning fire is hampering crews, Yunas said.

For now, smoke that obscures State Road 78 is "the main concern" but "there is a significant chance that (the fire) will consume" 12,000 acres, Yunas said.

State Road 78 remains open, but crews have put out smoke advisory signs to warn drivers. "Smoke may create conditions where visibility on roadways is seriously impaired, especially in the evening and early morning," Yunas said. "Under these conditions, drivers need to turn on low-beam headlights, slow down and be prepared to leave the roadway if conditions continue to deteriorate."

Smoke wafting over Highlands County will be the main issue for local residents, Yunas said.

Lake vegetation last caught on fire during a drought in 2008. Earlier this year, "the Army Corps of Engineers established fire breaks around the perimeter of the lake to eliminate fire spread from the roads (and) levees to enter inside the lake," Yunas said.

Such drought and resulting fires are "very unique for September," Yunas added. "You usually should have rain all the way until Oct. 15."

"This is a reminder we need continued rainfall through the remainder of the wet season to replenish our water resources. There are likely only a few weeks left of traditional summer rainfall before the transition into the dry season," said Susan Sylvester, the chief of the Water Control Operations Bureau of the South Florida Water Management District. "Lake Okeechobee is a key component of our water supply system and it is more than three feet below average for this time of year."