Editor’s Note: In light of another historic drought and season of wildfires, The Florida Times-Union is republishing this story during the 1998 fires. It was initially published on July 5, 1998.
Clouds of smoke and stubborn wildfires kept Flagler County residents trapped in shelters yesterday, as residents in Volusia and Brevard counties began returning home, some only to find them destroyed.
The three wildfires that forced about 42,000 residents to flee Flagler on Friday had burned 49,000 acres in the county yesterday, but by late afternoon some blazes were contained.
Still, residents were not expected to be allowed back into their homes today.
“The sheriff doesn’t want to keep anyone out . . ., but we’d rather be safe than sorry,” said Major Pete Reid of the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office. Officials will discuss today when to lift the order.
So far, 35 to 40 structures had been destroyed or damaged in the battle and one man died while being evacuated from a nursing home. Officials said they were not calling the death fire related.
While fires were still raging yesterday, higher humidity, some brief showers and a cool sea breeze allowed firefighters to control the spread.
“Today is certainly a better day than yesterday,” Gov. Lawton Chiles said yesterday during a tour of Flagler County. “Today, we were fighting the fire. Yesterday, we were running from the fire.”
Firefighters had the best handle in days on the hundreds of fires burning along the First Coast yesterday, but more than 125 miles of Interstate 95 remained closed for the third straight day, U.S. 1 was shut down between St. Augustine and Titusville, and Florida A1A — the only road open along the ocean — was closed in Flagler.
Since June 1, about 2,000 wildfires have scorched 453,000 acres in Florida — more than 10 times the size of Washington, D.C. About 200 homes have been damaged or destroyed and 55 people, many of them firefighters, have been injured.
About 120,000 people were under evacuation orders last week in three counties, and state officials said, so far, the fires caused more than $276 million in damages. That number is expected to keep growing.
Even though some residents were told they could go back home, some were afraid, said Joe Wooden, a Volusia County spokesman.
“Now that we feel comfortable with letting them go back, they’re saying `No way. We don’t want to go back,’ because it’s still intense,” Wooden said. “This is the Hurricane Andrew of wildfires . . . People are terrified.”
Officials said it was too soon to tell if the statewide ban on fireworks that left the Fourth of July without holiday explosions helped in the fight against the firestorms.
In St. Johns County, at the intersection of Florida 206 and U.S. 1, firefighters battled the county’s largest fire that was moving to the north and south. No one had been injured and no homes destroyed. Some residents in the area voluntarily evacuated and officials asked them to keep out of the neighborhoods so the emergency trucks could move freely.
Four fires continued to burn, destroying about 20,000 acres in Brevard County, but most of the 10,000 people evacuated during the past several days were allowed to return home.
As many Mims and Scottsmoor residents living east of I-95 were told they could return home, about 20 homes were being evacuated south of Florida 46 because of encroaching fires.
“Fires are still a threat,” said Tom Bartosek, county spokesman. “It’s going to be awhile before the whole order is lifted.”
About 1,500 people remained evacuated yesterday from four fires that were threatening homes west of the towns of Mims and Scottsmoor.
At least 35 homes have been destroyed, and probably an additional 30 to 35 received some damages, he said.
In Volusia County, crews battled 16 major fires, concentrating on a blaze near Pierson. So far, nine firefighters have been injured there, two homes destroyed, 10 mobile homes damaged and 29,000 threatened.
Residents near Ormond and Daytona beaches reluctantly went back into their neighborhoods.
Craig Fugate, chief of preparedness and response for the state Division of Emergency Management, acknowledged that some evacuees are frustrated at being forced to leave their homes and having little information.
“The question still remains in Flagler County: Is it safe to come home yet? And the answer is no,” he said.
Evacuees camped out at Clay High School in Green Cove Springs said it’s frustrating facing the unknown.
“There’s a terrible lack of information,” said Riley Lewis, 63, of Palm Coast. “We still don’t know anything. I would really like to know, do I go back home or turn left on [Interstate] 95 and go north to be with the rest of my family?”
But not everyone who evacuated to Palatka seemed alarmed.
“We’re safe here,” said Kathy Sweezy, 56. “I’ll worry about my home when I get back.”
By late afternoon, state officials said crews worked offensively as they handled the flames. At least 1,000 firefighters are expected to arrive in the county today to help.
Reinforcements of personnel and equipment arrived from the western states yesterday at Jacksonville Naval Air Station.
Gary Hart, division supervisor of the California Incident Management Team, said firefighters contained fires by starting controlled burns — lighting fires in front of fires so when the blaze reaches it, it wouldn’t have anything to burn.
“We are lighting a lot of fires to control the fire,” he said. “You’ve heard of fighting fire with fire? That’s what we are doing and that’s how we controlled this fire.”
Lt. Jason Tidwell, one of 75 Jacksonville firefighters called to Flagler two days ago, said he’s not accustomed to battling forest fires.
“When it was burning at its hottest and fastest, you couldn’t stop it no matter what,” he said. “It’s a whole different ball game. Here, sometimes you had fires on both sides of the street. You didn’t know what the winds were going to do . . . there’s a lot of different factors.”
Although not much good news came to evacuees yesterday, Insurance Commissioner Bill Nelson said several insurance companies in the state will reimburse residents’ costs for food and shelter.
Most, however, got a warm welcome in other counties, officials said. About 150 — mostly from Flagler and some from the Orange County town of Christmas under a voluntary evacuation order Friday — spent the night in Orlando.
While St. Johns crews battled their own fires, about 130 Flagler residents lined up at hotels and shelters.
“We are doing a lot better than Flagler,” said Linda Stoughton, St. Johns emergency management coordinator.
In Clay County, Fire Chief David Casey said yesterday about 80 of 100 residents who arrived at a shelter were “kidnapped” by locals and given a bed in their homes.
Meanwhile, firefighters were focusing their attention on a 300-acre fire along County Road 209.
Jacksonville International Airport sent a airport crash truck to Clay that carries 3,000 gallons of water to help them with the fires. But by yesterday afternoon, the fire was contained and only a blanket of smoke covered the area.
In Orange County, Christmas resident Pamela Marteney’s found her life in shambles as she went to pack her belongings Friday morning and evacuate the home she shared with her son and his girlfriend.
When she arrived at the home, she found an eviction notice on the door and all her belongings on the curb.
“We’re starting from scratch,” Marteney said.
Times-Union staff writers Roger Bull, Sean Gardiner, Thomas B. Pfankuch, Jim Saunders and Jim Schoettler contributed to this report, which contains information from The Associated Press.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: A look back at the evacuations for historic Florida wildfires of 1998
Reporting by Kathleen Sweeney, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
