FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:    John Wilson, Lee County Public Safety
                (941) 335-1600

FORT MYERS, Fla. (February 20, 2001) – The Board of Lee County Commissioners declared a seven-day "State of Local Emergency" today due to the high and continuing threat of brush fires in the county.

A state of emergency declaration makes the county eligible for federal fire suppression funds and temporarily increases the Public Safety Division’s ability to combat emergencies, including being able to expend additional funds, order evacuations and open shelters. It also is a signal to residents that they should be aware of the potential threat of brush fires in the area.

The Board will receive a status report on the state of emergency at its weekly meetings and decide on a week-to-week basis whether to extend it.

Drought conditions experienced locally since last year has led to water restrictions and the higher threat of wildland fires. In addition, Lee County’s Keetch Byram Drought Index is in the mid-600s, on a scale of 0 (wettest) to 800 (driest).

According to the Florida Division of Emergency Management:

The state has seen rainfall amounts dramatically decrease since the onset of La Niña, an abnormal cooling of the waters in the eastern Pacific, in early 1998. Although the La Niña event has diminished somewhat into 2001, a dryer and cooler weather pattern has sustained the below normal annual rainfall amounts in Florida.

The year 2000 was Florida's driest on record, exacerbating the drought into a severe to exceptional stage across much of the state. This drought is now responsible for increasing water restrictions, burn bans, sinkholes, wildfires and agricultural losses. The Climate Prediction Center forecasts the drought to continue into the summer, with slightly below normal rainfall through April.

The state agency is urging residents to:

• Conserve water.

• Listen to your local officials about water restrictions in your area.

• Remember to be FIREWISE. Drought conditions are fire conditions.

For more information on Florida’s drought, visit the Florida Division of Emergency Management on the Internet at www.floridadisaster.org.