Copyright 2006 Sarasota Herald-Tribune Co.
By JENNY LEE ALLEN
Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Florida)
SISTER KEYS, Fla. — Firefighters used boats, Huey helicopters and floating pumps this week to battle a blaze on an uninhabited Sarasota Bay island.
On Tuesday, the brush fire was spotted on a 67-acre island that is part of the Sister Keys island group east of Longboat Key, in Manatee County.
The fire occurred on the largest of the Sister Keys. It is home to birds, native plants and about 20 protected gopher tortoises.
The fire had consumed about four acres by the time firefighters brought it under control Wednesday afternoon, said Longboat Key Fire Chief Julius Halas. Environmental and fire officials said it caused no significant damage to island wildlife and plants.
Halas said he found no dead animals during a walk through the jungle-like area Wednesday.
In fact, he said, with all the underbrush burned, “It will probably be safer in there.”
Authorities aren’t sure how the fire started. Maybe a campfire got out of hand, or perhaps someone threw out a cigarette, Deputy Chief Pat Carden said.
People have been known to fish around and camp on the island, even though camping is not allowed.
Fire boats couldn’t get close enough because the water surrounding the island is so shallow, Carden said. So they used floating pumps, which sit on hard plastic in the water. They pump salt water into hoses held by firefighters on the land.
They also stamped the edges of the fire with shovels.
And helicopters dropped buckets of salt water on the fire.
Chief Halas said crews used MIST, or minimum impact suppression tactics, so as not to disturb the protected area.
“We’re not going to tear down the habitat,” he said.
Sarasota and Manatee county fire departments helped out, along with Myakka’s Division of Forestry district. The fire will likely smolder for days, Carden said.
The mangrove-lined Sister Keys, owned by the town of Longboat Key, is a tight group of four islands, with the smallest measuring only a little more than half an acre.
The town is in the middle of a restoration project on the keys, removing exotic plants like Brazilian pepper and planting more native plants.