Brush fire evacuates Estates neighborhood, I-75 reopen after smoke closed it
Brush fire evacuates Estates neighborhood, I-75 reopen after smoke closed it
31 March 2013
published by www.fireengineering.com
USA — GOLDEN GATE ESTATES _ Three separate brush fires smoked out eastern Collier County on Saturday, closing a section of Interstate 75 and causing authorities to evacuate 50 to 75 homes of a Golden Gate Estates neighborhood.
As of late Saturday, the eastbound Alligator Alley portion of I-75 remained closed between mile markers 80 and 100 because of smoke and firefighting trucks along the highway.
No homes were damaged in any of the blazes.
Krystina Dearmas saw the smoke billowing in the sky near her Golden Gate Estates home off Everglades Boulevard and ran home to rescue her horse.
The 16-year-old hopes she doesn’t have a lot of afternoons similar to Saturday, when her house on 52nd Avenue NE and two adjacent streets off Everglades Boulevard were evacuated because of a suspicious brush fire covering 50 acres.
Several fire departments responded and the fire was contained by evening.
Evacuated homeowners on 50th Avenue NE to 54th Avenue NE were allowed to return home by 6 p.m., after about three hours under an evacuation order.
Another smaller fire at Second Avenue Southeast, south of Golden Gate Boulevard, also was contained by early evening.
A brush fire that broke out Friday night in Big Cypress National Preserve burned 9,500 acres by Saturday and none of it was contained by evening, said Ryan Stubblebine, a spokesman for Big Cypress National Preserve.
That fire started near Fire Prairie Trail, west of State Road 29 and north toward I-75, he said.
Saturday evening, the Florida Highway Patrol closed eastbound I-75 from mile marker 80 to mile marker 100, and traffic was being rerouted to State Road 29. It was uncertain when the interstate would reopen, which depended on how badly the smoke hindered visibility.
With dry weather conditions, state fire officials say brush fires will start peaking in April and continue in the spring.
“We have had quite a few fires already, some small,” said Heather Ferrand, spokeswoman for Florida Forest Services, formerly the Division of Forestry. “But at this point, you are going to see stuff is going to ramp up more and more. You are going to see (more) in May and June, the end of April.”
Stubblebine, with Big Cypress, said conditions are ripe for fires, yet the blaze Friday night and Saturday in Big Cypress was considered suspicious and an investigation has begun.
Six agencies and 25 firefighters were working that fire Saturday and it would be monitored throughout the night, he said.
Tom DeSantis, who lives on S.R. 29 about a mile south of I-75, spent Friday and Saturday nights watching the fire get closer to his house, but he planned to stay put with his roommate.
“All we can do is watch and wait,” he said. “(Friday) night it was pretty scary.”
The smoke is bad and he’s got two donkeys that he may have to load up in the back of his truck and take them away.
Dearmas, the teenager who lives at 2480 52nd Avenue NE in Golden Gate Estates, said her horse, Cheyenne, was behind her house and she could sense the fire was close and her horse was spooked.
“I literally parked the truck on the side of the road,” she said. “A police officer helped put her in the garage. She’ll be OK.”
Ken McKissick, 28, who lives with his girlfriend at 2520 52nd Avenue NE, said they were out four-wheeling on a trail at the end of their street when they saw smoke. He came back, hosed down the roof and turned on the sprinklers, while firefighters doused the fire behind his house and on one side. Charred brush was about 40 to 50 feet away from his house.
“They did a good job,” he said of the firefighters. “They saved the house. It can’t get much better than that.”
Martha Bantz, who lives at 2370 52nd Avenue NE, loaded up her car and by the time she was done, the fire was largely contained.
“This is the closest it has ever come,” she said about brush fires, adding that she’s lived on her street since 2004.
“I was lucky,” she said. “Hey, I can always be thankful.”
Return to naplesnews.com later today for more on this developing story
Posted earlier
At least three brush fires are now burning in the Golden Gate Estates area and eastern Collier County, with winds creating more difficulties for firefighters.
Several fire departments have responded and the fire close to a residential area is now contained.
That fire is in the area of 50th to 54th avenues northeast, where 50 to 75 homes were ordered evacuated.
Evacuated homeowners on 50th Avenue Northeast to 54th Avenue Northeast were allowed to return home around 6 p.m. No homes were destroyed.
Another fire is drawing fire trucks and crews to an area off Golden Gate Boulevard.
A third fire in eastern Collier is sending smoke across Alligator Alley, Interstate 75, and authorities are closing the road in that area. The Florida Highway Patrol website and authorities said the eastbound side of the interstate is now closed from mile marker 80 to mile marker 100.
A brush fire that broke out Friday night in Big Cypress National Preserve burned 9,500 acres Saturday and none of it was contained by evening, Ryan Stubblebine, a spokesman for Big Cypress National Preserve, said Saturday. The fire started near Fire Prairie Trail west of State Road 29 and north toward Interstate 75, he said.
With dry weather conditions, state fire officials say brush fires will start peaking in late April and continue in the spring.
“We have had quite a few fires already, some small,” said Heather Ferrand, spokeswoman for Florida Forest Services. “But at this point, you are going to see stuff is going to ramp up more and more. You are going to see (more) in May and June, the end of April.”
Return to naplesnews.com later today for more on this developing story
Posted earlier
Big Corkscrew fire officials are evacuating homes from 52nd Avenue Northeast to 54th Avenue Northeast in northern Golden Gate Estates due to a brush fire at Everglades Boulevard and 54th Avenue Northeast, according to Collier County sheriff’s officials.
Information is not readily available about the size of the brush fire and how close it is to homes or if any have been damaged, All roads remain open in the area. Several fire departments have crews on the scene.
Estimates are that 50 to 75 homes are being evacuated.
The fire is northeast of the Waterways and Orangetree residential communities and west of Ave Maria.
