From the Gainesville Sun

By Karen Voyles & Cindy Swirko
Staff writers

Crews from Alachua County Fire Rescue, the Florida Division of Forestry and St. Johns River Water Management District are battling a wildfire that has grown to about 300 acres north of Island Grove.

Firefighters were creating fire lines and planned a burnout that could bring the fire to 1,000 acres but keep it from spreading farther, according to Division of Forestry spokeswoman Ludie Bond.

They expected to work throughout the night battling the wildfire, which is in the Lochloosa Wildlife Conservation Area, public land held by the St. Johns River Water Management Area. No homes were threatened by the blaze, which created a large plume of smoke visible for many miles.

The fire was reported around 1:30 pm Bond said the wildfire was likely man-made, though it was not yet known how it started.

Federal, state and local officials have been warning about the potential for significant fires across the region for several weeks. North Florida is in a persistent drought, a condition exacerbated in Alachua County in November when no measurable rain fell.

Update

By Cindy Swirko
Staff writer

Expectations became reality Tuesday afternoon when a major wildfire ignited in southeastern Alachua County near Lochloosa and quickly burned more than 300 acres of dried earth, creating smoke that could be seen in Gainesville and causing potential traffic hazards along U.S. 301.

Firefighters with several agencies plowed fire lines and planned to burn within those lines Tuesday night to gain control of the blaze, said Ludie Bond of the Florida Division of Forestry's Gainesville District office.

The total area expected to be burned is more than 1,000 acres, Bond said Tuesday evening.

"This is the biggest fire in the district so far this season," Bond said. "We don't know the cause, but it was started by someone — probably unintentionally."

The region has been in a drought with below normal rainfall and several small brush fires have broken out, particularly after the recent freezes. A spark from machinery can easily ignite fires when the earth is as dry as it is now.

Tuesday's fire was north of Alachua County Road 325 and west of U.S. 301. Some of it was in the Lochloosa Wildlife Conservation Area owned by the St. Johns River Water Management District.

On a section of the primary road in the area, which ends at a boat ramp on Orange Lake, it was easy to see why the fire spread so quickly. One side was burned — the ground an ashy white with an open panorama of charred palmetto, pines, gallberry and other vegetation. The unburned side was dense underbrush that becomes fuel for fires during drought conditions.

"It's badly overgrown and the forest floor is covered in pine straw," Bond said. "As highly flammable as these fuels are — the waxes and the resins in there along with the pine straw — it's no wonder that it ignited very easily."

While water from trucks and from a DOF helicopter was used to douse hot spots, most of the firefighting effort involved the use of heavy equipment to plow lines around the fire to contain it within a defined area based on the direction of the blaze.

Bond said crews were expected to be working at it throughout the night. Meanwhile, officials said smoke could pose visibility problems on U.S. 301 overnight and into the morning.

A park and boat ramp in the community of Lochloosa became a prime viewing spot because some of the fire along with the lofting smoke could be seen across a section of Orange Lake.

"I was coming through Hawthorne earlier and could see the smoke, and I was worried it was closer to my house," said Mike Walker, whose house was not threatened.

April Simmons said her grandfather spotted embers from the fire at his house.

"We were coming back from Gainesville and saw it. It's grown tremendously since then," Simmons said.

Bond said no homes were threatened by the fire. She added that the wind is expected to be more brisk today, which could cause the fire to flare up.