Hundreds evacuate as Wild Fires defies containment
Pastor Dale Morgan
Hundreds evacuate as Wild Fires defies containment*
POSTED: 1656 GMT (0056 HKT), May 15, 2007
Story Highlights
• Dry weather, wind continue to hamper firefighters
• The fire has scorched 390 square miles so far
• Blaze 50 percent contained in Florida
• Another wildfire burns in Minnesota, Canada
LAKE CITY, Florida (AP) -- Authorities evacuated hundreds of homes after
a massive wildfire along the Georgia-Florida border jumped a containment
line overnight, authorities said Tuesday.
Dry weather and 15 mph winds in north Florida were expected to further
hinder firefighters.
Between 250 and 500 homes west of U.S. 441 had to be evacuated for a
second time when the fire line was breached, Florida Highway Patrol Lt.
Michael Burroughs said. (Watch how the smoke has cleared, but not the
arid weather Video)
An additional 570 people who were ordered out of homes east of the
roadway were still waiting to return.
The wildfire had raced through the Okefenokee Swamp in southeast Georgia
and into northern Florida after being started by lightning more than a
week ago. By Tuesday, it had burned 109,000 acres in Florida and 139,813
acres of swampland in Georgia -- nearly 390 square miles in all.
Flames jumped the containment line at the fire's western edge in Florida
overnight, said Leslie Auriemmo, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service.
On the western edge of the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia, Fargo residents
were told to stay alert as wind forecast at up to 20 mph pushed the
blaze against fire breaks plowed between the swamp and the city of 380
people.
"Everybody's being told not to let their guard down, don't unpack," said
Laura Polant, a fire information officer in Fargo. "Residents are still
being told to be prepared to leave because the call can come at any time."
Firefighters have used water-dropping helicopters and built containment
lines in hopes of stopping the wildfire and keeping it away from homes.
(Watch how firefighters have had to battle the changing weather Video)
In Florida, the blaze was 50 percent contained Tuesday. The smoke had
lifted enough to open Interstates 10 and 75 to traffic, but drivers were
warned that periodic closures were still possible.
Another large wildfire, in northeastern Minnesota and Ontario, could be
brought under control by the end of the week, officials said. No one has
been seriously hurt in the fire, which has burned 117 square miles of
Minnesota and Canada, but many cabins and smaller structures -- more
than 100 in all -- have been destroyed.