Southwest Florida Fire officials are urging caution as they prepare for what could be an active season for wildfires in the dry months ahead. 

Early predictions of an El Nino weather pattern that would have brought wetter weather have since been revised. 

“What they’re saying now is that particularly being below the rainfall totals, we’re potentially setting up to have a busy fire season,” said Florida Forest Service Wildfire Mitigation Specialist Victor Hill.  “Based on the drought index which is a measure of the moisture content in the soil and the vegetation that looks to be shaping up now, particularly given that we haven’t really had a lot of sustain rain over the last couple months.”

The region experienced some rain events in December, but Hill warns residents not to let that give them a false sense of security about their risk. 

“Just because you see rain, that doesn’t necessarily mean that things are going to go away.  It’ll be a temporary relief, maybe for a few days,” said Hill.  “But once we get some nice windy days with low humidity that’s set in, it’s not going to take much for all that vegetation to dry out again.”

Hill says the Florida Forest Service is beginning to keep a closer eye on areas like Lehigh Acres in Lee County and Golden Gate Estates in Collier County that are typically more prone to fires. 

The risk for wildfires in Southwest Florida is typically highest in the months of March through June.  Hill says residents’ decisions like choosing not to burn waste or clearing overgrowth on their properties can make a big difference in reducing fire risk, noting that 75 to 80 percent of the region’s wildfires each year are caused by people.