This paper studies and reports the possible causes and effects of wildfires to forests, vegetation and life in Volusia County and surrounding counties in Florida during the summers of 1998 and 2006. Multi-date Landsat TM image data sets of 1998 before and after the wildfires are used to analyze the burned vegetation in relation to contributing environmental factors such as rainfall, drought conditions, wind speed and direction, relative humidity (lower), lightening during fires, hotspots, and El Niņo and La Niņa cycles using remote sensing technique of image processing.

Florida has wildfires every year, spanning from March through June. However, the1998 summer wildfires that affected Volusia and surrounding counties were enormous and devastating in many ways.

The intent of this study is to relate the fires to different weather conditions, vegetation and forests. Furthermore, this study addresses the wildfire's impact on agriculture, wild life and the economy of Volusia County, tourism being the main source of economic income.