For Immediate Release

May 28, 2014

Memorial Day Fires Part 4: First time for everything The days and weeks around the Memorial Day Holiday traditionally produce some of the larger

and more difficult wildfires for the Florida Forest Service’s Blackwater District. This is the fourth

part in a six-part series looking back at some of the more memorable fire events that have

occurred around the holiday in the past few years.

NORTH SANTA ROSA FIRES, May 29, 2013: The first call came in to the Florida Forest Service

dispatch center at Blackwater at 1:22 p.m.; just a routine fire in a rural part of the county south of

Highway 4. It was nothing out of the ordinary.

The second call came 7 minutes later; another fire. Seven minutes after that, a third fire. Four

minutes later, the fourth fire. The fifth and sixth fires were called in within the next six minutes.

In the course of 24 minutes, there were six fires up and running through planted pine and grass

fields with 10 tractor/plow units and two brush trucks responding. The sizes of the fires at initial

attack varied from less than an acre to 16 acres or more depending on how quickly firefighters could

get to the blaze. In the end, there were 10 fires that day, 9 in the area around Berrydale at Highway

4 and County Road 89. Final acreages ranged from 1 to 89 and totaled 263 – 418 acres for the day if

you add in the Avalon Hangar Fire (Part 5 of this series) south of Milton.

Truth be told, it was a little bit of chaos for a few minutes while all of the moving pieces got into

their proper places. Sometimes, though, the place would change before the piece could get there.

“I was sent to standby in Munson,” said Forest Ranger Brett Golloher, who at the time was

months removed from his Basic Fire Control Training class. The class is required to become a

Certified Florida Wildland Firefighter. “That changed quickly and I got sent on to Berrydale.

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Joe Zwierzchowski

Information Officer/Wildfire Mitigation Specialist

Florida Forest Service – Blackwater Forestry Center

E-mail: Joe.Zwierzchowski@freshfromflorida.com

Cellular: 850-206-2675

Office: 850-957-6140 ext 127

“I thought I was going on a fire with another ranger but got called off to a separate one,” Golloher

said. “It wasn’t really supposed to go like that.”

While Golloher had undergone the required training and even been on several fires beforehand, this

would be his first time fighting a fire alone.

“It was exciting more than scary,” he said. “My

training just kind of kicked in and I went. I had a lot of

tractor time leading up to it so I was comfortable with

the equipment. It was the fire that was the only thing

that was different.”

It was different alright. Berrydale – and most of

northern Santa Rosa County for that matter – does not

see a lot of wildfires. The large swathes of farmland

reduce the opportunities for fire and the forests in

that part of the county – a mix of private, industrial

and state lands – are regularly maintained with

prescribed fire that helps eliminate much of the

hazardous fuels.

Managing that many fires at once is not the easiest

task, especially trying to coordinate the movement of

tractors and personnel while away from the scene.

Operations Administrator David Smith, sitting in

dispatch, could hear the fires unfold as the operators

radioed in their sizeup reports and conditions at the

scene. As the dots marked on the map on the wall

grew in size and number, Smith made the decision to

land the Forest Service helicopter and get up above

the fray where he could see the big picture. By doing

so he was able to reduce the confusion and help

coordinate suppression efforts on the ground.

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North Santa Rosa Fires

WHEN: May 29, 2013

WHERE: Berrydale, Santa Rosa County

DURATION: 7 days

SIZE: 263 acres

CAUSE: Incendiary (arson).

EQUIPMENT REQUIRED:

9 tractor/plow units

2 Brush trucks

3 overhead personnel

1 helicopter

LESSON LEARNED: Arson is difficult for investigators and firefighters to prove. Short of catching someone in the act or a full confession, much of the evidence is destroyed in the fire and the cases go cold. If you have a tip on a possible woods arson case, please call the Arson Alert Hotline at 1-800-342-5869. You might be eligible for up to a $5,000 reward.

“Sitting in dispatch wasn’t doing me any good,” Smith said. “I drove out to Berrydale and I could see

multiple smokes in multiple directions. I had the helicopter land in the church parking lot at 89 and 4

and we were able to get a better view than you ever could from ground level.”

Once in the air, Smith was able to direct traffic and make sure every fire had at least one piece of

equipment on it. He also was able to see two more fires that had popped up a few miles south.

“That’s when we saw the Indian Ford fires,” he said. “We were able to make a flight over those and

determine there were no structures threatened and they were burning through some younger planted

pines. We didn’t have any equipment available, though.”

Eventually, crews and equipment became available as they got a handle on some of the fires. As soon

as they could load up a bulldozer, it was sent to fight the next one. The final tally for the string of fires

was 263 acres on the north end with the largest fire being Indian Ford Road at 89 acres.

MEMORABLE FIRES AROUND MEMORIAL DAY – RELEASE DATE, FIRE NAME, DATE OF FIRE

May 20: Elvis Road Fire, May 21, 2012 – Santa Rosa County – 55 acres

May 23: Giese Lane Fire May 25, 2013 – Escambia County – 201 acres

May 26: Indian Bayou Fire, May 27, 2010 – Santa Rosa County – 279 acres

May 28: North Santa Rosa Fires May 29, 2013 – Santa Rosa County – 9 separate fires in one

general area for 263.5 acres

May 28: Avalon Hangar Fire May 29, 2013 – Santa Rosa County – 155 acres

May 30: Main Drive June 2, 2011 – Okaloosa County – 95 acres

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