I-4 remains closed by smoke from wildfire

A Polk County wildfire sends smoke into the bay area.

By ALICIA CALDWELL and ED QUIOCO

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 19, 2001

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Smoke from a faraway Polk County wildfire blanketed parts of south Pinellas and Hillsborough counties Sunday, closed a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 4 in Polk for a second straight day and threatened to keep it closed again today.

Numerous Tampa Bay area residents, thinking a fire was nearby, swamped emergency centers with calls early Sunday evening.

"As soon as the cloud blew in, they started lighting up our phone lines," said Richard Mabee, a Pinellas County communications center supervisor.

As a precaution, Pinellas and Hillsborough officials checked for any local fires, but confirmed that the plume of thick, eye-stinging smoke was coming from Polk County. Smoke, carried southwest by the wind, was reported in places including Brandon, Sun City Center, St. Petersburg, Gulfport and Manatee County.

And for the second straight day, smoke from the 10,000-acre fire inconvenienced thousands of motorists who had to detour around the closed section of I-4, between U.S. 27 and State Road 33 in Polk County. That, in turn, snarled traffic throughout that area.

[Times photos: Stefanie Boyar] As the afternoon sun is obscured by dense smoke on Sunday, a Blackhawk helicopter rented by the Division of Forestry carries water to spread over hot spots of a wildfire that burned more than 9,000 acres in Polk County. Winds carried the smoke into Hillsborough and Pinellas counties earlier today.

Officials said the section would remain closed until at least 6 a.m. today, when they would assess the situation again. They said it's possible the road would remain closed through today.

Before opening the road, authorities want to be certain it will not be a temporary move that they might have to reverse quickly.

"We're not going to open it unless we can be sure it's going to stay open," said Anne Malatesta, a spokeswoman for the state Division of Foresty.

Motorists may call a toll-free information line established by the Polk County emergency operations to get updates on the road closure or detour information. The phone number is 1-866-661-0228. On Sunday, many of the inconvenienced travelers were auto racing fans heading to the Daytona 500.

The fires, centered near Polk City about 60 miles from St. Petersburg, forced motorists such as Maria Coggins of Tampa to go out of their way to find an alternate route to the race. Coggins and her husband drove north, through Ocala, and made it to the track on time.

But they were not looking forward to the trip home.

"I'm sure it will be a lot worse going back," Coggins said.

The fires, which have been burning since Thursday, have consumed 10,000 acres and forced the evacuation Sunday of 30 homes near Polk City, which was in addition to the 30 homes that previously had been evacuated. Also, the Polk County Correctional Institute took 120 inmates with respiratory problems to neighboring jails.

No injuries were reported.

[AP photo] Dense smokes fills a pasture on eastbound State Road 33 in Lakeland today. The thoroughfare was a detour for traffic routed off I-4.

For motorists, the danger from the fire was not so much from the flames, but the smoke that decreased visibility.

"It's impenetrable," Malatesta said. "The smoke is so thick on the highway you can't see in front of your face."

"This is very intense and erratic fire behavior," said Paul Palmiotto, assistant chief of forest protection with the Division of Forestry.

Meanwhile, fire officials monitored the state for other flare-ups and battled fires in central Florida south of Orlando.

Firefighters mopped up after a wildfire that scorched 3,000 acres in Okeechobee and Indian River counties Saturday, burning down electricity transmission lines and forcing the evacuation of a fish camp near Blue Cypress Lake.

As many as 20 fires burned south of U.S. 90 in the Osceola National Forest near Lulu, apparently set by an arsonist.

Three other fires burned in the Green Swamp north of Polk City, including a 3,825-acre fire on the Lake and Polk county lines. A 1,500-acre fire in Osceola County near Kissimmee posed little threat to homes.

- This report includes information from Times staff writers Pete Young and Angela Moore, as well as the Lakeland Ledger and Associated Press.

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