As fire nears homes, Bush issues warning

Some Polk County residents are urged to evacuate as a wildfire burning since Tuesday continues to spread.

By Times staff and wire reports

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 26, 2001

A 2,100-acre wildfire burned hundreds of feet from 900 homes Thursday, sending up dense smoke and dropping ash on Central Florida subdivisions for a second day in a row.

Residents in the Polo Park subdivision off U.S. 27 in Polk County were under a voluntary evacuation.

Smoke enveloped parts of the highway, snarling traffic, and also blew over the hundreds of homes in the area.

The fire moved as close as 30 feet to some homes in the subdivision early Thursday, but was eventually pushed back by shifting winds and the efforts of firefighters and residents.

About 100 firefighters from the Division of Forestry, Lake and Polk fire departments and volunteer crews plowed fire lines and tried to keep the blaze from spreading. Helicopters and air tankers were battling it from above.

The fire began when a truck hit a utility pole in Lake County on Tuesday, igniting some brush. It steadily spread east into Polk on Wednesday, pushed along by stiff winds.

The fire likely will burn 4,000 acres of dry underbrush in the mucky Green Swamp area by the time it dies out, fire officials said.

"It will smoke and smolder in this area for months and months," said Wayne Jones, incident commander with the Forestry Division.

Meanwhile, Gov. Jeb Bush issued an executive order Thursday putting Florida residents and agencies on alert. He said the danger of wildfires threatens the state with a "major disaster" because of dry conditions.

Bush's directive also authorizes the use of National Guard airplanes and helicopters to help fight the fires.

Hernando County is the driest in the state, with a 648 on the Keetch-Bryam scale, with some areas reaching above 700. Pasco averaged 611 on the scale, with the highest reading being 681; Citrus averaged 608; Hillsborough, 548; and Pinellas, 539.

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