UPI
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Forestry officials in Florida said the Espanola fire, which consumed 4,306 acres, hasn’t jumped containment lines, but burned a new area within the perimeter.
Elsewhere, the White Eagle fire, which threatened homes last week, flared up Tuesday, but was contained within fire lines, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported Wednesday.
Officials say 333 fires are burning throughout Florida, with the Espanola fire in Flagler County the largest.
“The state is awfully dry,” Florida Gov. Rick Scott during a stop Tuesday in Flagler County, where thanked firefighters for their work. “We all need to pray for rain.”
The governor declared a state of emergency Monday because of the wildfires and, if necessary, will ask additional states and the federal government for more help. The state of emergency will make available the resources of the National Guard.
Asked whether the emergency declaration would be forwarded to the federal government, Scott said state officials would “monitor this and see where we are on that,” the News-Journal reported. A federal emergency declaration would allow Flagler and other counties to seek help from the Federal Emergency Management Administration for the costs of fighting the fires.
Hank Graham, a spokesman for the state Division of Forestry, said Florida is as dry or even drier than in 1998 when wildfires forced the evacuation of Flagler County.
“We have more active fires today than we had in ’98 on any given day so the conditions are definitely there and as bad as ’98,” he said.
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