Monroe County Fire Chief RL Colina joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the county.
The Monroe County Fire Rescue Easter egg hunt will be on April 15.
Chief Colina said, “April 15 in Big Coppitt at Monroe County Fire Station Number Nine, we’re going to be hosting our annual Easter egg hunt. It starts at 6pm and I will tell you each year it’s getting better and better. Great community support, and we get a lot of kids out there and a lot of family members, and I’ll tell you what, it’s just one of those events that even the firefighters look forward to it. I know we’ve got our team geared up, ready to go, and it is unbelievable to think that here we are again another Easter is coming close. This this year is flying.”
The brush fire in southern Miami Dade County affected the Keys.
Chief Colina said, “We got reports this morning that all the brush fires in the affected areas, they’re at 85% containment. They’re expecting a little bit of rain today, which always helps with keeping that smoldered area down. Most of the fire, everything that was going on, obviously, was in Miami Dade, but it does have such an impact with us when that’s our way in and way out. So we’re definitely looking at ways to improve the communication between us, Miami Dade and forestry, because there was multiple agencies involved in it, and when they start trying to communicate, water drops with the vehicles, there’s a proximity that they have to make sure and ensure that there’s no vehicle passage before those waters come and drop. So we’re going to look at ways that we can better inform our residents and better ways to ensure that our communication between our partners in Dade County is improved.”
Did the fires come close to vehicles on US 1?
Chief Colina said, “There were certain points during this event where the impingement of fire, the wind shifted so quickly that those vehicles that were actually on the road became a hazard for them, just not for visibility, but actually direct flame. It’s one of those things that we look at it and it’s just a little bit of smoke, we’ll drive slower, but a lot of times where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and we have to always ensure that when we’re not putting people in in more peril in terms of trying to get across the stretch. So that’s why there was a lot of caution taken when we had any type of wind shift, a lot of communication in terms of between the forestry and their plan and what they wanted to do, but between Monroe County Emergency Management, Monroe County Fire Rescue, and of course, Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, they got on top of it quickly to ensure that we were sure when the roads were opening and closing, so that our residents that had appointments, that had activities on the mainland could be well informed and not sitting in traffic.”
What was the cause of the fires?
Chief Colina said, “As far as I know this morning, the cause is still under investigation. There were certain speculations about a backfire. There was other speculations about children playing, but as of today, I have not received any confirmation that they’ve narrowed it down.”
Was it 30,000 acres that were affected?
Colina confirmed, “We’re just around the 30,000 plus acreage that was affected. It was in Dade County, they had a lot of challenges on their side, especially those that were following it, how close it even came to the speedway up there. So they had a bunch of battles. For us, we dealt with the road closures and the delay in traffic, but our residents and our visitors, in terms of impacted structures, we did well.”
The NAS Key West Southernmost Air Show Spectacular is this weekend.
Chief Colina said, “We’re so excited that we’re getting to that point where we can be there to participate with this annual air show. For months the Naval Air Station, they’ve been preparing for months and months, we’ve been alongside of them as good partners in terms of what kind of evacuation plans do we have, and what kind of mitigation plans do we have in terms of medical services. So we assist, we provide several units, a bunch of manpower, and really anything they need. They talk about 20,000 to 30,000 visitors that will be coming to the Florida Keys to watch this show this weekend. So we just want to make sure that the services are there to help, definitely if, God forbid, there’s an incident, but just for the normal stuff, people that go there and might be on medication, might be on something that is heat sensitive. So we just want to make sure that everyone going out there reminds themselves and their loved ones, stay hydrated. Make sure you eat something before you get out there. If you’re not normally, used to being on your feet all day and looking around, just prepare for those things. Wear hats, sunscreen and most importantly, definitely, stay hydrated. It’s really important for your body. The Navy does an amazing job. They set up their emergency operations center, they set up their medical center. Then what we do is Monroe County Fire Rescue, our personnel will go in there and support with services in terms of, if we need to take somebody off base, and just to provide some extra manpower. We’ll have members of Monroe County Fire Rescue on our ATV, our gators will be out there to help with any emergency or request that comes up.”
The Navy has a pretty extensive infrastructure of Fire Rescue on their own.
Colina said, “They do. They’re like a little city within themselves. They have responsibility for all the members that are part of the naval branch there, along with all the facilities, the building, and then also their airport firefighting. That’s one of their main missions there, with all the aircraft are landing every day, every hour, it seems like they’ve got something going on. So they have a high alert for their aircraft on their base. For these types of events, we definitely try to go in there and support them. But for them, they understand what their mission is, and they’re normally very well staffed and a well-oiled machine going on today for firefighting. We’re very proud to serve the residents, visitors of Monroe County and have such great support, community wide for all our efforts, and we love to participate in anything we can, to show the community that we’re there all hours of the day and night. So thank you very much for your time.”