Wildfires force home evacuations in Florida
Pastor Dale Morgan
Wildfires force home evacuations in Florida*
AP - Monday, May 12
MALABAR, Fla. - Brush fires forced residents to flee more than 500 homes
in central Florida on Sunday and closed a major interstate, authorities
said.
A fire in Volusia County has burned between 500 and 600 acres and caused
road closures and home evacuations, state Division of Forestry spokesman
Timber Weller said.
About 400 homes in the neighborhood near Daytona Beach were under a
mandatory evacuation order and 200 more homes were under a voluntary order.
Weller said windy, dry conditions were challenging the fire crews.
"Control is extremely difficult, and there's basically several small
subdivisions in the area and fires burning, in some cases, very close to
the homes," Weller said.
A fire near Cocoa had burned more than 100 acres and forced evacuations
of about 100 to 200 homes, Brevard County Fire and Rescue spokesman
Orlando Dominguez said.
Heavy smoke from another fire in the Brevard community of Malabar forced
authorities to close part of Interstate 95, the major East Coast corridor.