Heavy rain chances expected to bring potential relief to Panhandle wildfires, but it's temporary
Heavy rain rolling in and strong winds dying down later in the week could be good news for those fighting Bay County’s wildfires, though it likely will be only a temporary reprieve.
Multiple wildfires covered more than 14,000 acres across Bay and northern Gulf counties as of Monday afternoon, proving difficult for local resources to control as dry conditions make the fire easy to spread.
National Weather Service meteorologist Cameron Young said that by Wednesday, a cold front will begin moving through the Panama City area, which will significantly increase the chances of rain to as high as 90% chance by Thursday.
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“We definitely have some much-needed rain in the forecast,” he said. “We’re looking at between 3 and 5 inches over the next five to seven days.”
According to Bay County, Florida Emergency Services at noon on Monday, the Bertha Swamp Road fire was only 10% contained and covering approximately 13,000 acres — 4,000 acres more than Sunday. The Adkins Road Fire was approximately 875 acres and 40% contained, and the Star Avenue Fire was approximately 250 acres and 45% contained.
“We welcome the potential chances of rain in the area that comes through, but in front of that passage we are concerned with changes of wind direction," Bay County Chief of Emergency Services Brad Monroe said. "So right now it’s very variable,”
“The fires have the most potential in growth during the day and the fires typically diminish intensely when the temperatures cool down later in the day,” he said.
Wind forecasts show some gusts as high as 15 mph are possible through Wednesday, though those drop down to as low as 5 mph by Thursday before picking up again later in the weekend. That, in addition to the rain brought by the cold front, could provide some reprieve to fire-spreading conditions, Young said.
“Any of this rain is definitely going to be helpful for battling the fire,” he said. “The lighter winds will help but obviously as we get into Saturday — if they’re still battling the wildfire — the winds could be a concern again, though I can’t speak to the details on how much or little these factors might play into how the fire spreads.”
As of Monday afternoon, officials had evacuated some areas around the wildfire sites and were using heavy equipment to focus on establishing fire lines around at-risk communities.
Mandatory evacuation orders still remained in place Monday afternoon for these areas between Transmitter Road and Star Avenue, south of U.S. 231 to U.S. 98, and Bear Creek, the area south of Scotts Ferry Road and east of U.S. 231.
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This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Wildfires in Bay County, Florida: Heavy rain could bring some relief
