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By Times staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 28, 2001
A wildfire in Polk and Lake counties kept burning for the fifth day in a row Saturday. It had consumed nearly 3,000 acres, but no homes were damaged and no injuries were reported.
"It is considered 50 percent contained at this point," said Timber Weller, spokesman for the state Division of Forestry.
Firefighters avoided having to close Interstate 4 between Orlando and Tampa on the eve of the Super Bowl. The fire was no longer threatening the interstate or the Polo Park subdivision, a 900-home retirement community bordering on the Green Swamp.
About 80 firefighters were using five firetrucks, 15 bulldozers and two helicopters to fight the fire. The blaze started Tuesday when a truck hit a utility pole in Lake County. Since then, the fire has steadily moved east into Polk County.
"If you walked around the perimeter of the fire, it would be 13.8 miles," Weller said.