With so much rain soaking Highlands County, and the drought index relatively low at 333, the state is issuing burn permits, according to Tim Elder, Florida Division of Forestry forest area supervisor for Highlands and Glades counties. ...more

October 17, 2008

Zane Thomas is one of Highlands County officials glad to hear that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has awarded the county a $136,000 "Firewise" grant to greatly reduce the chances of wildfires engulfing homes. ...more

September 15, 2008

Used dirt bikes and ATVs are on sale near the entrance to the park. ...more

August 31, 2008

The state is once again offering money to help landowners fight the southern pine beetle. ...more

July 2, 2008

SEBRING — A small wildfire in the northeast part of Highlands Hammock State Park was extinguished Monday evening, causing no injuries or property damage. The rain helped firefighters and forestry officials put a quick end to the fire. Chief Scott Mann of the West Sebring Volunteer Fire Department said the fire affected about five acres before it was put out 7:30 p.m. ...more

June 3, 2008

SEBRING — Although flames reached 10 to 15 feet and embers flew up to 100 yards Tuesday afternoon, firefighters kept a brush fire from causing major damage near Hammock Road. Two homes had minor soffit damage and cracked glass from the heat, and one car was destroyed between Heron and Barn Owl streets and Scrub Jay and Cardinal avenues. The fire, which burned five acres, was fully contained late Tuesday afternoon, according to Florida Division of Forestry Senior Forester Dale Armstrong. ...more

May 27, 2008

Counting every tree on public property in the city of Dunedin can be a difficult and costly task, but local parks officials want to try. City Manager Rob DiSpirito said such a tree inventory would give the city a wealth of information with which to better manage the urban forest on its land. The inventory would also improve public safety, he said. ...more

May 24, 2008

AVON PARK — A fire that destroyed an isolated mobile home late Monday morning spread to the surrounding yard, then growing into a wildfire that had firefighters on alert through the afternoon, according to firefighters on scene. No injuries were reported from the Avon Park Estates mobile home on West Starr Road, which was believed to be abandoned. However, the mobile home was reduced to its cinder blocks and a floor that resembled a nearly cleared, blackened platform. ...more

May 12, 2008

In effort reduce the potential for future wildfires, the Florida Division of Forestry will be igniting prescribed burns within northern portions of the Brooker Creek Preserve either Saturday or Sunday. ...more

February 22, 2008

LAKE PLACID — On Henscratch Road, a column of smoke moved from east to west, with the wind. Eight days later, the fire is still simmering. Two blocks away, behind Bert Dawson's mobile home on Grand Concourse Drive, there's more smoke. "Yesterday, the wind started it up again," said Dawson, who paused while building a deck between his home and his mother's travel trailer. "Little fires. I got on my 4-wheeler and went back there." Behind his ranchette, there's a hammock of pine and hardwood trees, and the underbrush is as thick as it gets in Florida. Somewhere — Dawson thinks it was east of his home — the Henscratch fire started on Feb. 11. ...more

February 19, 2008