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Wildfire risk not significantly dampened by recent rain

Jacksonville, FL — While the First Coast saw rain through Tuesday's severe weather, it doesn't appear to have been enough to really cut back the wildfire threat.

And, in fact, winds that are now kicking up, could prove to be an even bigger problem.

GALLERY: Severe weather brings hail to Northeast Florida

Florida Forest Service Wildfire Mitigation Specialist Annaleasa Winter says the rain from recent storms has only amounted to about an inch, on average.

“It was desperately needed, and it will certainly help for a little while, but if we go another couple of weeks without rain, we’ll be pretty much right back to where we were before,” she says.

Winter says there is still a lot of fine, dead fuel on the ground. That can ignite, and get easily picked up in high winds, leading to a wildfire.

“Just because we had rain, we don’t want people to have that false sense of security thinking ‘OK, we can go out and continue as normal’,” she says.

VIDEO: WOKV First Alert Wildfire Special

The wildfire season lasts through May, and Winter says this one could stretch in to June. She’s urging you to put of any planned burning until the rainy summer season, and in the meantime continue to protect your home by clearing yard debris.

We've already had several wildfires flare up across the First Coast, but crews have worked to quickly contain them, with no damage to homes.

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