Florida Wildfires Burn 17,000 Acres, Destroy Homes
Pastor Dale Morgan
Florida Wildfires Burn 17,000 Acres, Destroy Homes *
By Chris Dolmetsch
May 13 (Bloomberg) -- Florida Governor Charlie Crist declared a state of
emergency in Brevard and Volusia counties on the central Atlantic coast
after wildfires damaged or destroyed 160 homes and threatened hundreds more.
About 108 blazes are burning across 17,000 acres (6,800 hectares) in 14
counties across the state, including seven major fires scorching more
than 14,000 acres, said Gerry LaCavera, wildfire-mitigation coordinator
for the Florida Division of Forestry. Brevard is the home of NASA's
Kennedy Space Center.
Some of the blazes started as structure fires that appear to have been
deliberately set, while others are brush fires fueled by dry, hot, windy
conditions, Mike Stone, a spokesman for the Florida Division of
Emergency Management, said in a telephone interview.
Winds won't be as strong today as they have been in the past couple of
days, though there will still be breezy, dry conditions with
temperatures as high as 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) and
relative humidity of about 26 percent, according to a National Weather
Service forecast.
``Things are starting to heat up again,'' state Agriculture and Consumer
Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson said in a televised press
conference while visiting the area with Crist today.
Two of the biggest blazes, the so-called Grassy Island and Myakka Cut
fires, are brush fires burning over about 8,600 acres on the dry
perimeter of the bed of Lake Okeechobee, creating heavy smoke, LaCavera
said.
Power Lost
Three fires are scorching 4,000 acres in Brevard County, threatening
almost 800 homes and businesses, he said. As many as 5,400 homes in the
county were without power as of 10 a.m. local time today, Stone said.
About 71 homes have been damaged or destroyed in the coastal city of
Palm Bay, located midway between Miami and Jacksonville, and eight homes
were gutted in surrounding areas, said Joel Hass, chief executive
officer of the American Red Cross's Mid-Florida region, which is housing
about 122 people in a shelter just south of the city.
``The wind has laid down a little bit and the humidity is up a little
bit,'' Hass said. ``But as we go on in the heat of the day, the humidity
will go away and the sea breezes will kick in along the coast. So we
expect there could be 25-30 mph winds that could kick in. We're
tinder-dry, so for us to think this is the last is probably not a good
thing to think.''
A 34-mile stretch of Interstate 95, the main north-south route for the
U.S. East Coast, was closed because of the fires, according to the
Florida Transportation Department. Stone urged drivers to be mindful of
closures and smoke conditions.
``It's very much a fluid situation,'' Stone said. ``Motorists really
need to use caution in the area.''