TAMPA, Fla. — Hillsborough County officials are extending their emergency burn ban for a 17th consecutive week as drought conditions continue to dry up ponds, kill grass and raise fire concerns ahead of the summer holidays.
The burn ban prohibits all outdoor open burning, including fireworks, sparklers and fire pits. Outdoor grilling is allowed as long as flames are contained within a grill.
WATCH: Tampa Bay locals react to Hillsborough County emergency burn ban now in its 17th week
Since January, officials have reported nearly 1,980 brush fires throughout the state, burning more than 120,515 acres.
At Al Lopez Park in Tampa Bay, 28 Annette Gutierrez spoke with locals who said the conditions are hard to ignore.
"It's bad. There's a lake behind our house, and it now has a beach all around it," Judy Nagare said.
Madelynn Mongiovi, who works in lawn care, said she is seeing the drought's impact firsthand.
"I mean, it's really terrible. Everything's drying up — plants, grass," Mongiovi said. "We have a lot of people having to resod or running into insect issues with chinch bugs in these extreme droughts."
Even residents who are following the rules said the dry conditions have them on edge. Rafael Gonzalez was at Al Lopez Park, preparing to barbecue, when Gutierrez asked whether the conditions made him nervous about lighting the grill.
"Honestly, the grilling maybe not because we can control a little bit more, but it's more like when you're home, and you're just randomly like sniffing the air, and you smell something burning, it's kind of a little bit nerve-wracking because you don't know how close that fire could be or how serious the fire is," Gonzalez said.
Tampa Bay 28 meteorologist Jason Adams said relief is not coming soon.
"Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we've got any relief in the short term, but we're about to turn the page from the dry season to the rainy season," Adams said.
Adams said June should begin to make a dent in the moisture deficit.
"At the end of the rainy season last year, we got a jump start on the drought because September produced below average rainfall," Adams said. "So, when the rainy season starts, unfortunately we're starting with a deficit for the year, so we've got to make up a good 10 to 15 inches — in some places in Florida, 20 inch deficit, and that's going into the year."
But he said the problem won't get fixed overnight.
"It's really not until the 2nd week of June, 3rd week of June that the rainy season really ramps up, and that may not be enough time to dampen the ground enough to allow us to get through those 4th of July fireworks," Adams said.
Hillsborough County officials said the burn ban will remain in effect until conditions improve.
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