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Wind-whipped fires drive out thousandsBy JULIE HAUSERMAN and GEOFF DOUGHERTY © St. Petersburg Times, published July 2, 1998 "We've never had this many evacuated" because of fire, Gov. Lawton Chiles said after he got an update at the state's Emergency Operations Center. Residents were evacuated in Flagler, Volusia, Brevard, Lake, Walton, Lee and Osceola counties as fires stoked by heat and drought continued to rage across Florida, burning about 260,000 acres so far. A fire west of Ormond Beach continued to grow throughout the day until authorities announced a mandatory evacuation for about 10,000 of the city's 35,000 residents late Wednesday. Several homes were lost to fire: 10 in Brevard County and two in Osceola County. Seven firefighters and one volunteer were injured, including some with second-degree burns. One fire was so strong it skipped over Interstate 95 in Northeast Florida, Chiles said. A 16-mile stretch of U.S. 1 was closed, as was I-95 through the length of Volusia County and in parts of Brevard County, posing a traffic headache as the Fourth of July holiday weekend approaches. Late Wednesday, new fires were breaking out all over the state. "'We're past the point where we can say: "Let's bring in more equipment,' " Chiles said. "The fire has taken the offensive because of the wind." The 6-week-old wildfires made it nearly to the Atlantic on Wednesday, leaving just a narrow swath of land separating charred pastures from the water in some places. Officials said the number of homes evacuated in Flagler and St. Johns counties could be as high as 10,000. Brevard County fire officials declared a 100-square-mile chunk of the county off limits and evacuated more than 6,000 homes. Some Ormond Beach residents were taken to shelter at a high school in Port Orange, but authorities were scrambling for other places where people could go. "This is probably the first time in Volusia County history that we've had this kind of an evacuation during a fire," said Len Ciecieznski, Volusia County emergency spokesman. "It's one fire, but it's gotten big and it's gotten irregular," Ciecieznski said. "As time goes on and the fires have become more and more menacing, more neighborhoods have gone under evacuations." As the highway closures shunted motorists onto two-lane rural highways, in many places, they sat in traffic jams thousands of cars deep and watched the woods burn. "It was burning everywhere," said Kathi King, who moved to a Brevard County campground two weeks ago from Miami with her husband, Marty. "Both sides of the road were burning when we left." King saw a Dairy Queen burn in Scottsmoor, where a Citgo gas station also was damaged, then watched as heavy black smoke rolled up to the Crystal Lake Campground where she had parked their mobile home. Helicopters roared overhead, using the campground's lake to refill their water tanks. Finally, she said deputies ordered everyone out of the campground. Wednesday's flare-up was caused by a stiff unpredictable wind that fanned dozens of fires crews have been trying to control for days. "The wind is all over the place," said Frank Findley, a ranger with the U.S. Forest Service. "That's what makes it worse." Findley was assigned to the crews in Flagler County, where 36 new fires sprouted overnight. Authorities there summoned helicopters to beat the fire back from the Palm Coast subdivision, which burned several years ago and appeared ready to do so again. In Halifax, the Humane Society asked for volunteers with trucks to help move animals out of the evacuation area. In Brevard, which appeared to be hit the hardest, crews were struggling to contain new fires and abandoning some older ones. Among those areas evacuated were the Fawn Lake and Lake Harney Woods subdivisions, where residents also had been ordered out Tuesday night. Smoke from the fires was visible at a shelter set up by the Red Cross in Titusville, a few miles south of the evacuation area. Volunteers had checked in 58 people and expected more. Most of those who fled their homes sat in front of the television looking for footage of their neighborhoods. Marty King didn't see his and believes it was claimed by fire. "I seriously doubt we've got anything left standing," he said. "When we left Miami we went from the frying pan straight into the fire. Now we don't have anywhere to go." About 110 new fires flared up Tuesday alone, bringing to 1,743 the number of fires that have started statewide since Memorial Day. In an average year, Florida sees 4,100 fires that burn 112,000 acres. Since the end of May, 251,055 acres have burned -- an area of almost 400 square miles, or roughly 17 times larger than the island of Manhattan. Nearly every firefighting tractor plow in the Southeast is in Florida. Most of the nation's "hot shot" crews -- elite firefighting units under contract with the U.S. Forest Service -- are here. Thousands of other firefighters have come from out of state, and Florida is training members of the National Guard in firefighting. Dozens of firefighters from Pinellas County have headed east to help, and Wednesday, fire crews from both Tampa and Hillsborough Fire Rescue were dispatched to help fight brush fires in Osceola County. Those fires, north of Yeehaw Junction, threatened buildings Wednesday afternoon, so officials there requested emergency help from surrounding fire departments. A total of 10 professional and volunteer firefighters, two trucks and a tanker left the Hillsborough County Operations Center about 5 p.m. Wednesday. The state also has called in the Marines. The 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., will replace an old wooden bridge in Volusia County that can't carry the load of heavy firefighting equipment. The state set up a toll-free line for travelers to keep up with road closures. The number is (800) 342-3557. The fires were not all the result of the drought or lightning. State fire marshal investigators accused two youngsters, ages 8 and 9, of setting fire Tuesday afternoon to woods in their hometown of Deltona -- a fire that was quickly contained. The youngsters were charged with a third-degree felony of willful, malicious and intentional burning of lands and released to the custody of their parents. Wednesday afternoon in rural Washington County in the Florida Pandhandle, a 15-year-old boy was arrested and charged with unlawful burning for setting fire to grass and leaves. One resident whose home was threatened showed exceptional gratitude to the firefighting effort. Austin Williams of Holiday, a specialist with the National Guard fighting fires in Volusia County, said that after his crew put out a fire behind a man's barn, he made a donation to the firefighting effort. "He wrote us a check for $5,000. He said, "Go buy yourselves a couple of beers.' "
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ens of thousands of people were forced from their homes Wednesday as stiff winds revived fires in Central and Northeast Florida.
