By mid-May 2008, the State of Florida had 102 active wildfires affecting approximately 40,000 acres. In addition, the Mustang Corners Fire in Everglades National Park started on May 14 and burned throughout the month affecting another 40,000 acres of federal land. Smoke from several wildfires cast a haze over parts of south Florida, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a dense smoke advisory. The Governor declared a State of Emergency, the EOC was activated and ESF-8 requested that the Agency for Health Care Administration open a wildfire event in the Emergency Status System to track census and bed availability in the local hospitals.
Objective
We used the syndromic surveillance system ESSENCE (Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics) to evaluate emergency room visits with respiratory related chief complaints in an area with decreased air quality associated with wildfires affecting South Florida, 2008.