MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — There’s still smoke coming from the brush fire in Palm City that Martin County Fire Rescue confirmed is 100% contained.
The fire started yesterday afternoon and burned 40 acres, with no evacuation orders placed.
WATCH: Drought conditions in Martin County have officials on alert
But David Grubich with Florida Forest Service told WPTV’s Tyler Hatfield that Martin County is seeing drought conditions, leaving fire to keep burning underground through the organic and dry soil.
“It's just like stoking the grill when you're trying to cook a steak,” said Grubich. “You have the ash layer on top, but the coals are hot and underneath. The same thing's going on underground right now.”
Martin County is at moderate level of 500 for drought conditions, higher than the other counties on the Treasure Coast, making this soil drier and better to fuel fire.
“Everything right now is competing for moisture,” said Grubich.
Cory Pippin with Martin County Fire Rescue told WPTV drought conditions have them on alert, especially this location in Palm City, with Tuesday’s fire being the second in the area in around two weeks.
“We've had so many fires in this area," said Pippin. “It's definitely an area of concern and a place that we're watching closely.”
Both Pippin and Grubich said there’s no threat to people living nearby and crews are continuing to monitor the fire.
Pippin said the best way to protect your home from brush fire spread is clearing debris from yards and, most importantly, cleaning your gutters.
Make sure, first and foremost, [gutters] are clean and any debris that could be in those gutters doesn't become a source of fuel for the fire,” said Pippin.
