Yates, who could face five years in prison, gave a variety of motives for the fires, including anger and depression, Leinhauser said. Soon the state will head into the start of lightning season, which will bring even more blazes and usually not enough rain to quench the flames, Weinell said. The Memorial Day weekend resulted in 139 new fires, which burned more than 14,000 acres, bringing the tally of scorched earth around the state this year to 109,056 acres. One fire in Volusia County forced evacuations that brought back memories of the 1998 fires, which prompted the evacuation of the entire county over the Fourth of July weekend. But by the end of the holiday, authorities allowed the residents to return.
New fires are only part of the worry for firefighters.
Emergency officials are particularly concerned about the rekindling of old burns they thought were extinguished. The problem, fire crews say, is that heat-damaged pine needles falling off trees are creating what are essentially tinderbox conditions on the ground. North-central Florida has become particularly vulnerable. Local and state firefighters Tuesday continued to battle fires in several counties there, including Alachua, Gilchrist, Marion and Putnam. They thought they had it contained last week, but over the weekend it escaped again.