This year has been a big year as far as fires in Florida, with crews currently working to contain two brush fires in western Miami-Dade County.
Read more Body of man who went overboard in Biscayne Bay ID’d as Akin Liverpool, FWC says
But what does “containment” mean? And what does 100% containment mean versus, say, 40% containment?
What does it mean when a fire is ‘percent contained’?
Containment does not mean the fire has been extinguished. Percent contained means how much of a perimeter crews have established around an active fire, preventing it from growing and engulfing more land.
“Sometimes you think about, oh, it’s a controlled burn, but in the language of a wildfire, we’re talking about, how is the fire moving, and the levels of ‘containment,’ you think about if there was a circle or line going around,” said Michelle Danielson, senior forester of the Florida Forest Service.
Fire crews aim to suppress a wildfire by creating containment lines around it — either with roads and highways or natural barriers such as rivers or other waterways — that are meant to surround the flames and stop them from spreading.
Read more Man’s warning shot fired from rifle hit Miami-Dade Transit bus, injured woman, cops say
“The equipment is kind of creating that and fighting, taking away the fuel to make that line to where the fuel doesn’t continue,” Danielson said.
What does it mean when a fire is 100% contained?
As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, the Quarry Fire was 40% contained. Fire crews aim for 100% containment, but that doesn’t mean a fire is completely “out,” or no longer poses a threat.
“Containment doesn’t mean that the fire is ‘out,’ but it’s a helpful metric to communicate progress toward stopping the advance of the fire into new areas,” fire ecologist David Godwin told the University of Florida.
Read more WNBA expanding to 50-game schedule for teams in 2027