Real-time Florida wildfire incident tracking map showing Acorn Boulevard fire containment and resource data. — Map showing active wildfires and acres burned across Florida as of April 21, 2026. Credit: wildfire.gov

State wildfire equipment is being staged in four areas across north Florida because drought conditions, fueling one of the most active brush fire seasons in decades, are expected to linger for weeks.

“The peak fire season is not here yet. That’s usually toward the end of May,” Rick Dolan, the director of the Florida Forest Service, said during a press conference Tuesday in Green Cove Springs. “We have not received lightning so far. And when that comes, and it’s coming, we’re going to be as busy as we probably have been in decades. But we’re well prepared.”

Since the start of the year, 1,797 wildfires on state and federal lands in Florida have consumed 103,211 acres, according to the Forest Service.

Last year, the state recorded 2,913 fires that burned 228,183 acres.

“We’re going to be in a drought for the next two months,” Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson said during the press conference. “We need everyone to know: if you see a fire, please say something. If you’re mowing your lawn, make sure that it doesn’t spark and catch a fire behind you. Please do not burn outside for now.”

To help fiscally constrained counties, which are mostly rural, the state has staged equipment in Tallahassee, Lake City, Cecil Field in Jacksonville and Cross City in Dixie County, Simpson said.

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This article appears in Apr. 16 – 22, 2026.