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Florida Forest Service warns of high fire risk

Posted at 7:42 PM, Mar 08, 2018
and last updated 2018-03-08 19:42:42-05

As the viewing area braces for what could be another bad year for wildfires, what may make matters worse is what is left over from last year's hurricane season.

“It’s going to take us a little time to create these fire breaks because of the down trees the extra vegetation that has been left over from Hurricane Irma,” said Melissa Yunas with the Florida Forest Service.

The big concern is densely wooded properties that no one manages, especially on days like Thursday, when there's a red flag warning, meaning conditions are ripe for wild fires.

“We’re prepared. Our equipment’s prepared. We’re just asking homeowners to take the time to create those defensible spaces and clean off their roof and gutters."

Exclusive video from from Five in the Sky shows just particularly vulnerable communities, like the Country Place subdivision, which is surrounded by wooded area.

It’s where we found Les Kindberg already clipping and clearing the dry and dead debris from his property.

“In case there's a fire which we’ve had one across the street that scared us quite a bit last year,” said Kindberg.

Yunas says 70 percent of the wildfires from last were man-made, meaning they could have been prevented.

The other 30 percent were likely caused by lightning.