TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Bay-area firefighters are working hard to contain brush fires this season.
"Yesterday was one of our busiest," said Rob Herrin with Hillsborough County Fire Rescue. "In total, we ran 22 confirmed brush fires."
WATCH: Tampa Bay firefighters share toll of working brush fires this season
Tampa Bay 28 asked Herrin about the toll it takes on crews.
He said it's taxing, calling brush fires unforgiving work.
"We're trained in it. We're used to it. We're just not used to it being this early in the season," said Herrin.
Herrin said it's a lot of work for their firefighters, sometimes gone from the fire station for extended periods of time.
"Yesterday afternoon for example, I ran that call down in Wimauma, and there was a couple units on that scene. This was about 4:30, 5:00pm. They hadn't been to their station since early morning," said Herrin. "They'd just been going from one brush fire to the next."
Todd Chlanda is a wildfire mitigation specialist for the Florida Forest Service.
The Lakeland District covers Pinellas, Hillsborough and Polk County.
"Yesterday we responded to eight calls for assistance, and that's in all three of those counties, and we were quite busy from about 11:00 o'clock til overnight," said Chlanda.
There are things you can do to make a crew's job easier, like being aware of your actions and heeding burn bans.
Chlanda said their personnel are prepared for any call.
"There's always a good time to burn your yard debris and stuff. Right now is not that time," said Chlanda. "So we're just really urging people to hold off on any type of burning because the conditions are very dry, and it doesn't take long for a very small fire to become a very large, devastating wildfire. It can happen in a matter of moments."
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