The weekend's heat-and-fire map runs from a brush fire in the Southern California foothills to two blazes on the Everglades fringe to a heat wave pressing on records across Florida.
In Riverside County, the Taffle Fire had burned 55 acres and was 25 percent contained as of 6 p.m., CBS News Los Angeles reported [1]. The fire was reported around 12:40 p.m. at Taffle Ranch and Red Mountain roads, about 5 miles southeast of Hemet and near the San Bernardino National Forest [1]. Officials issued evacuation orders for zones RVC-1912 and RVC-1979, with warnings in three more [1].
In southwest Miami-Dade County, two wildfires closed a section of Krome Avenue on Friday, according to CBS News Miami [2]. The smaller Trail Fire had burned 25 acres and was 80 percent contained as of Saturday afternoon, per Watch Duty figures cited in the report [2]. The larger Radio Tower Fire had burned a total of 700 acres and was "only 50% contained as of Saturday afternoon," by the same accounting [2]. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said the fires were not currently a threat to residential or commercial areas [2].
The heat is the wider story. WUSF reported that most cities across north and central Florida and along the Big Bend "could tie or come close to reaching record temperatures this weekend and early next week" [3]. Tampa's forecast high could tie a record of 97 set in 1961, and Jacksonville could tie a record of 99 set in 1954, WUSF reported [3]. Gainesville, Ocala, Tallahassee, and Lake City were placed under an Extreme Heat Risk [3]. The danger is in the heat index as much as the air temperature. WUSF put St. Petersburg's afternoon heat index at 106 to 108 and said Tallahassee's could approach 114 [3].
In Central Florida, News 6 forecast afternoon highs surging into the upper 90s on Saturday and again Sunday, with the heat index in the "105-110 ballpark" during the hottest part of the day [4]. The station called it likely the hottest stretch of weather all summer [4].
The people at the sharp end are specific. Residents in Riverside County evacuation zones RVC-1912 and RVC-1979 were told to leave [1]. In Gainesville, Ocala, Tallahassee, and Lake City, an Extreme Heat Risk means the kind of heat index, up toward 114 in Tallahassee, that carries real danger for anyone without air conditioning [3]. The Taffle Fire was only a quarter contained as of Friday evening and the Radio Tower Fire half contained by Saturday afternoon, and the heat has days left to run.
