LAKE PLACID — About 400 acres of brushy, forested land burned Monday and Tuesday, but no houses, no barns, no businesses were damaged. Exactly how does that happen, when hundreds of structures are threatened? ...more

February 14, 2008

LAKE PLACID — As firefighters battled flames Monday and Tuesday, they kept talking about defensible space. That's a minimum 30-foot no-vegetation zone around houses, barns, outbuildings and other possessions. Two hundred feet is more desirable. ...more

February 14, 2008

LAKE PLACID — Tuesday morning, bright and early, Florida Division of Forestry crews were out with bulldozers, pushing down brush and small trees that could cause future blazes. ...more

February 12, 2008

LAKE PLACID — Several merchants and the town mayor agreed on Monday that uprooting and replanting six recently planted cabbage palms and installing 11 new ones is an improvement. A $25,000 Urban and Community Forestry Grant from the Florida Division of Forestry paid for the planting of 127 cabbage palms late last year, and almost immediately, residents said they either loved or hated the addition of the trees. Complaints from drivers concerning poor visibility at the Eucalyptus Street and Interlake Boulevard intersection even sparked an investigation by the Lake Placid Police Department. ...more

January 29, 2008

Expect closed traffic lanes on Interstate 4 until firefighters can extinguish smoldering hot spots that send smoke over the road every time wind blows from the north. ...more

January 16, 2008

VENUS — A 2-acre wildfire in the Venus area is threatening several structures, according to forestry officials. ...more

January 15, 2008

TAMPA - Interstate 4 motorists could continue to encounter closed lanes until firefighters can extinguish smoldering hot spots that send smoke over the road every time wind blows from the north. ...more

January 15, 2008

SEBRING — Last week's cold snap aside, Highlands County's temperatures were anything but winter-like since December. In fact, as we go through at least another three days of highs reaching 80 degrees, records from the National Weather Service indicated that Avon Park had the sixth warmest December since 1893. The average temperature in the City of Charm last month was 68.4 degrees, 5.8 degrees above the December average of 62.6. The mercury at the Archbold Biological Station south of Lake Placid did not stay as high up from the average mark, but still was 4.7 degrees higher at 67.1, above the station's 62.4 average. For Archbold, this is the fourth highest average since 1969. The NWS holds no data for Sebring. ...more

January 12, 2008

LAKE ALFRED - Firefighters are battling a 500-acre brush fire near Interstate 4 and State Road 557. ...more

January 8, 2008

SEBRING — State and federal officials have started several controlled fires through Highlands County since Monday, with more planned through mid-December. The cool, dry weather coming to the area made it a good time for the Division of Forestry to start as many controlled fires as possible, said Tim Elder, the division's forest area supervisor for Highlands County. "What's going to get us to (stop) is a frost," he said. ...more

December 5, 2007