MELBOURNE, Fla. - Florida officials are worried that high winds and holiday barbeques could spark a large scale brush fire.
Firefighters in Palm Bay and Melbourne have tackled at least five small blazes between them during the past two days, Florida Today said Thursday.
Drought conditions are reaching increasingly desperate levels, with the Drought Index for Brevard County registered at 633 out of 800, fire officials told the newspaper.
In 1998, brush fires burned through 70,000 acres in Brevard County.
"It's nowhere near the conditions of 1998, but the ingredients are there," said Orlando Dominguez, spokesman for Brevard County Fire-Rescue. "If we don't get any significant amount of rain, then we're headed in that direction."
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