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Firefighters in the Florida panhandle were battling nearly 150 wildfires on Sunday – with three of them so large they have forced hundreds of residents from their homes, including residents of a nursing home in Panama City.
Two major fires – the 9,000-acre Bertha Swamp Road fire and the 841-acre Adkins Avenue fire – both broke out on Friday, and continued to blaze on Sunday evening.
Both fires have threatened homes and forced residents of at least 1,100 houses in Bay County, Florida to flee over the weekend.
The Adkins Avenue fire destroyed two structures and damaged another 12 homes late Friday.
The fires have been fueled by trees downed by Hurricane Michael four years ago, and assisted by tinder-dry conditions and strong winds.
Hurricane Michael in 2018 left behind 72 million tons of destroyed trees that have provided fuel for the Bay County wildfires, according to the Florida Forest Service.
The hurricane was directly responsible for 16 deaths and about $25 billion in damage in the U.S.
Public transit was being used to move the residents at the Clifford Chester Sims State Veterans’ Nursing Home, a 12-bed facility in Panama City.
Buses also were on standby in case the 1,300 inmates at the nearby Bay County Jail needed to be evacuated to other facilities.
Florida Fire Service on Sunday pictured the devastation caused by the Bertha Swamp Road fire – one of 150 currently blazing
One of almost 150 wildfires raging through the Florida Panhandle is pictured in an image shared by the Bay County Emergency Services on Sunday
Sunday’s blaze is seen from the sky. The state currently has 12,000 acres blazing – with 150 separate fires in the Panhandle alone
Teams of first responders are seen evacuating the Clifford Chester Sims nursing home in Panama City on Sunday
Ambulances arrive on Sunday to take the residents of the nursing home away from the fire-threatened facility and to a safe place
Those living in and around Springfield, east of Panama City, were told that they had to get out of their homes immediately.
Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, called the larger Bertha Swamp Road fire ‘a big boy,’ at a news conference in Panama City on Sunday afternoon.
‘It’s moving very quickly,’ he said.
As of Sunday evening, the Bertha Swamp Road fire was 15 percent contained, and Adkins Avenue was 35 percent contained, the Chipola branch of the Florida Forest Service said.
Fire apparatus and 17 bulldozers were working on containment lines, and Florida National Guard Chinook helicopters were dropping water from Deer Pointe Lake onto the blazes.
‘I’ve never seen anything like it,’ said Florida State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis in a post on Twitter.
DeSantis said that hundreds of thousands of acres of downed trees from the hurricane in 2018, together with low humidity and strong winds, created ‘the perfect storm’ for hazardous fire conditions in Bay County.
The Bertha Swamp Road fire is seen on Sunday. The fire is currently burning approximately 9,000 acres
A helicopter pilot on Sunday looks out over the wildfires burning across the Florida Panhandle
Firefighters using powerful searchlights can be seen close to the wildfire that continues to rage in Bay County, Florida
Florida’s Urban Search & Rescue teams are seen standing after another day battling a wildfire raging across the state
The sun hangs like a red ball in the sky as smoke billows across the sky on Saturday evening
The sky glows orange while a fire burns close to the roadside in Bay County, Florida
Smoke can be seen rising from a wildfire in the Florida panhandle
Smoke could still be seen billowing into the air on Saturday evening as the sun set across the Florida panhandle
Thick smoke could be seen hanging in the air in Bay County, Florida as the sun set on Saturday
Firefighters and the Sheriff’s Office are still on sight as authorities battle to get the wildfire contained
A Forest Fire Service helicopter is seen refueling before heading back into the skies to monitor the situation again
A band of smoke can be seen drifting across an otherwise cloudless sky in Florida on Saturday afternoon
Bay County Sheriff’s Office say that the flames may soon begin to die down as the humidity increases
Residents began salvaging what was left of their homes while others still worked to save theirs as the Adkins Fire entered day two on Saturday. The scene behind burned out homes on Whitehead Boulevard was still smoldering on Saturday
Laurie Shuman’s home on Whitehead Boulevard was destroyed by the Adkins Avenue fire on Friday. The Shuman family had moved into the new home after losing their house to Hurricane Michael
Only the shell of homes would be seen having been struck by the wildfire on Saturday
Residents began picking up what was left of their homes while others still worked to save theirs
Only the burned out shell of homes was left standing in homes on Whitehead Blvd in Panama City, Florida
Eli Dunyak, Thor Magnuson, Logan Hernandez and Nash Dunyak work behind homes along Alva Thomas Road cutting back debris and moving it further away from homes. Hernandez lives in one of the homes and had friends show up to help him save his home from the fire
‘This is not a surprise,’ DeSantis said speaking at a news conference in Panama City on Saturday.
‘These fires are something that people have been discussing for several years now.’
More than 200 firefighters and emergency workers from across the Florida Panhandle worked overnight on Friday to strengthen containment lines and protect homes.
As of Saturday afternoon, the 1,500-acre Adkins Avenue Fire was 30 percent contained, according to the Florida Forest Service.
It remained around that on Sunday evening, with a 35 percent containment, fire officials said.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
A wildfire in the Florida Panhandle destroyed two homes and damaged 12 as 600 residents were forced to evacuate
The fire began on Friday and spanned more than 1,400 acres before firefighters contained 30 per cent of it on Saturday. Neighbors (left to right) Emily Homeric, Robert O’Connor and Wandi Blanco poured water on hotspots behind the burned homes in Panama City, Florida
Emily Hamric pulls water from her neighbors’ pool to put out hotspots behind the homes on Whitehead Boulevard after the Adkins Fire tore through the area in Panama City, Florida on Saturday
Randall Shuman (pictured) took out boxes of his belonging from his destroyed home in Panama City
The Florida Forest Service said there was no timeline for when residents would be allowed to return to their homes
Residents used pools from damaged homes in the community to extinguish lingering flames and hotspots
Gov. Ron DeSantis said the Bay County has been plagued by wildfire conditions after Hurricane Michael took down hundreds of thousand of trees in 2018. He thanked first responders for their quick action during a news conference on Saturday
The agency has deployed more than a dozen tractor plow units as well as multiple helicopters, and burn bans were in effect in parts of the Florida Panhandle, officials said in a news release.
DeSantis praised firefighters for saving scores of homes overnight.
‘This is a really significant, fast-moving fire,’ DeSantis said.
‘It obviously has done some damage, but I thought given where it was, that you would have way more homes that would have been destroyed by now.
‘I think it’s a testament to what they [first responders] did to protect this community.’
Officials with the Florida Forest Service said there was no timeline for when residents would be allowed to return to their homes.
This photo provided by Florida Forest Service shows smoke from the wildfire as it receded a bit on Saturday
Dry conditions in Florida have created elevated fire dangers, with 143 active wildfires burning across the state
The state deployed more than a dozen tractor plow units as well as multiple helicopters, and burn bans were in effect
Fire fighters and emergency workers were still working into Saturday afternoon to contain the blaze
At the news conference, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis recommended that evacuated homeowners contact their insurance companies since it will speed up the claims process should their homes be damaged or destroyed.
‘Have patience as we ask you to evacuate from your homes,’ Patronis said.
Across the state of Florida, 12,000 acres are currently ablaze, according to the Florida Forest Service.
Michael was the first Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, and only the fourth on record, when it tore through Mexico Beach and Tyndall Air Force Base in October 2018.
The hurricane was directly responsible for 16 deaths and about $25 billion in damage in the U.S., according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
It also left behind 2.8 million acres of shredded and uprooted trees in the Florida Panhandle, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried said at the news conference.
‘Hurricane Michael left an additional threat to our communities – wildfires,’ Fried said.
‘Wildfires are never easy control.
‘This added fuel and dense pockets of vegetation from Hurricane Michael will increase the intensity of wildfires.’
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