TAMPA, Fla. — Firefighters from the Tampa Bay area are headed to the Florida Panhandle to join the fight against the thousand-acres wide wildfires that have forced 1,100 home evacuations.
A strike team of Hillsborough County firefighters deployed Monday evening to the Bay County area. The Tampa Bay area firefighters are part of a task force that will protect structures from the Chipola Complex wildfire.
The team consists of six firefighters from Hillsborough and 10 other team members from Sumter County Fire Rescue that also left Monday night. The firefighters will join other fire rescue departments in the region that have already been assisting with the wildfire battle.
Efforts to put out the wildfires that have covered thousands of acres are being coordinated under the name Chipola Complex. Two wildfires that are burning in close proximity together are often called a "complex" and are attacked under a unified command.
The Hillsborough County firefighters left with a command vehicle, two engines, two brush trucks and a water tender. They're expected to be working in the Panhandle for about five days.
Firefighters have been battling the 12,000-acre Bertha Swamp Road fire and the 841-acre Adkins Avenue fire that has threatened homes and forced evacuations.
A smaller fire, the Star Ave Fire, that developed Sunday caused an evacuation of a 120-bed, state-operated nursing home in Panama City, the Florida Fire Service said.
Fire officials say that steady winds and dead trees left behind by Hurricane Michael have fueled the spread of the fire, but noted that an increase in humidity and cloud cover Monday could help reduce intensity.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Sunday called the Bertha Swamp Road fire “a big boy,” at a news conference in Panama City. “It’s moving very quickly.”