9 ways to keep your family, home safe during Florida wildfire season

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — Burn bans have been issued in two Central Florida counties this week due to dry conditions.

Seminole County fire officials offered the following tips to help keep your home and family safe from wildfires:

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1. Remove any dead or dying vegetation around your home that can become potential fuel for a wildfire.

2. Keep any firewood stacked away from the house.

Read: Seminole County issues emergency burn ban

3. Keep a buffer zone or “defensible space” of 30 feet from your home by keeping flammable materials such as brush piles out of this zone and recycle yard waste through mulch and compost rather than burning.

4. Trees inside of the defensible space should be trimmed with their branches no less than 10 feet above the ground.

5. Keep grass and weeds maintained properly, and talk to your landscaper about fire-resistant vegetation that you can use in your landscaping.6. Have an Emergency Plan and an emergency kit packed in case an evacuation is ordered, especially if your home is near wildlands.

Read: Tiger Bay State Forest wildfire grows to 1,600 acres

7. Use extreme caution when grilling, camping and discarding cigarettes

8. Keep a ladder capable of accessing your roof in an easily accessible place.

9. Have an Emergency Plan and an emergency kit packed in case an evacuation is ordered, especially if your home is near wildlands

Read: Crews battle wildfire at Volusia County’s Tiger Bay State Forest; expect smoky conditions on I-4

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