I wasn't saying that Orlando was the only place that has brush fires - of course not!
But we moved from NC, where we fortunately never had to deal with this kind of thing. In a sense, Charlotte was the perfect city, weather-wise: no earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, snow storms, brush fires - nothing! We did have an ice storm once, but that was small peanuts compared to some of the snow storms we've been in.
Anyway, the brush fires here get pretty bad. There were a few days toward the end of the school year when it was intolerable in my classroom: the room was hazy with smoke, and we were all choking and coughing. I don't know why they didn't close school early - that can't be good for little lungs!
Cheers!
Heather W
I say we all move to NC...
wow you were lucky there! I guess because I am so use to it here, to hear someone gripe.. I just wonder why.. to me, it comes with the territory. I know the days you are talking about, the smoke wasn't from a local fire, it was from GA/Fl line, we had the same smoke here. My classroom had it too.. the teacher across from me thought her room was on fire. Didn't mean any harm by my post.
anyway, here is an update to the fire that started near me .. this is what it ballooned into..
(I was off on my time, I thought it started about 2 ish)
I never thougth it would have gone to this!!!
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http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070629/NEWS0101/70628111/1075
Fire largest in Cape Coral's history
All homes spared in charred 2,000 acres
By news-press.com staff report
Originally posted on June 29, 2007
A massive wall of flames quickly approached as residents furiously packed their belongings for a quick escape.
Firefighters dug in, positioning themselves between the homes and the attacking fire.
In front of them was a massive 2,000-acre brush fire, the largest in Cape Corals history. The blaze flared up about 11:30 a.m. Thursday in the northern part of the city near Andalusia Boulevard in the same area where an 85-acre blaze broke out the day before.
Over an intense seven-hour period, it moved rapidly toward homes, which residents were ordered to leave. A six-mile stretch of Burnt Store Road was closed as flames skipped over the highway, endangering even more homes.
As of 11 p.m. Thursday, the fire was 70 percent contained, and no homes were damaged according to officials on the scene.
It took the efforts of 22 fire departments, the Division of Forestry and 123 firefighters to beat it back.
The fast-moving blaze came within 30 yards of homes in Sanctuary Estates, a neighborhood just off Burnt Store Road of approximately eight homes, with land large enough for horses and live stock. The blaze damaged a barn and fences but no homes.
No one was injured. There were no reports of firefighters suffering from heat exhaustion or smoke inhalation. Lee County EMS, the Red Cross and Salvation Army were nearby with aid.
news-press.com
Carl Kondreck, 34, has lived in the northwest Cape for 17 years, but said he never witnessed anything like this. Smoke was heavy outside his home, just south of the fire line.
Of course were nervous, he said.
But by 8:30 p.m., after a much-needed 10-minute rain, residents were allowed to return home. By 9 p.m., Burnt Store Road reopened. The fire was expected to burn throughout the night, but Division of Forestry officials said it was 70 percent contained. Forestry tractors also were putting a 50-foot ring around the fire to keep it from spreading.
Cape Coral Division Chief Craig Aberbach expected the rain would assist firefighters as they continued to watch the fire through the night.
But when this blaze was running from firefighters, skipping across Burnt Store Road, dancing around homes and producing a choking smoke too thick to see through, residents wondered what would be left.
Especially those at Sanctuary Estates, where people scrambled to collect belongings and find a safe place for their horses.
About 40 people, plus animals, were evacuated from the area. The mandatory evacuation order was issued around 4:30 p.m.
I just couldnt think, said Judy Sylvia, whose home was one of the first threatened by fire. They said to grab your important papers. I couldnt think what was important.
Flames came within 30 yards of homes, but they were doused with water from the ground by firefighters and from the air by Division of Forestry helicopters. Lawn sprinkler systems were activated by residents to keep the fire at bay.
Firefighters said they saved five homes from the flames.
Alex Rouke helped Sylvia move her horse. He spotted the smoke column from the Caloosahatchee River and rushed over to help friends.
He was walking the horse to safety when the flames closed in, coming within 50 feet of him. He said he could feel the heat.
Ive never been so scared as when I saw those flames, said Rouke, who also helped put water on his friends barn and stable.
Trey Adcock was at his girlfriends house in the estates. He was caught in a stable with several horses when the fire rushed north and enveloped the area with smoke and heat.
Very hot, loud, an adrenaline rush, Adcock said. The horses were panicked and scared.
Smoke continued to rise from the blaze as dusk settled over the fire area. A Division of Forestry helicopter continued to draw water from a lake at Durden Parkway and Burnt Store Road and take it back to douse hot spots behind Sanctuary Estates.
A Tice brush truck hunted for hot spots later in the evening along the east side of Burnt Store Road between Sand Road and Caloosa Parkway, stopping to shoot a stream of water at the orange flames when firefighters spotted something.
Thousands of gallons of water were hitting this fire from all directions. When a brush truck was empty, Martin Darling of Matlachas Darlings Daughters, a water company, was there for the refill.
I had 7,000 gallons. Ive done 15 or 20 trucks. About 2,000 gallons are left, Darling said.
Burnt Store Road, the major connection for those traveling between Charlotte County and Cape Coral, is normally full of cars when the fire was at its strongest around 5 p.m.
But on this day, at least from Pine Island Road to Burnt Store Marina, only fire personnel were there. What was left from the fire were blackened palmetto stumps and pines.
Candy Portillo and her two children were evacuated from their home on Sand Road, near Sanctuary Estates, around 4 p.m. The family spent the next several hours on the road side in her car behind the police barricades, waiting for word.
We didnt have time to get much, Portillo said. Some Pepsi and some clothes. Thats it.
Her son, Jose Portillo, 11, was concerned about what condition his home would be in when he got back.
I just hope everything is there ... he said.
Brush fire timeline
WEDNESDAY
1 p.m.: Lightning from a thunderstorm sets off an 85-acre brush fire near Santa Barbara Boulevard and Wilmington Parkway.
5 p.m.: Fire is 90 percent contained.
THURSDAY
11:39 a.m.: Fire flares near Chiquita Boulevard and Jacaranda Parkway, and more than 85 acres are burning.
1 p.m.: Fire starts to spread over the fire lines established from Wednesdays fire.
2 p.m.: Burnt Store Road is closed from Pine Island Road to Burnt Store Marina.
3:40 p.m. Fire moving west, is about two miles from Sanctuary Estates homes, and has spread over 500 acres; voluntary evacuations recommended.
3:45 p.m. Wind shift shoves fire to the south of Sanctuary Estates, but fire is still close to homes. Forestry helicopter starts dropping water on fire.
4:10 p.m.: Fire reaches Burnt Store Road on a rising breeze.
4:28 p.m.: Mandatory evacuations ordered on both sides of Burnt Store Road just north of Kismet.
4:42 p.m.: Wind shifts and drives fire north into Sanctuary Estates within minutes. Residents literally feel the heat as they rush to evacuate horses and find a safe place.
4:58 p.m.: Fire reported 40 percent contained; Sanctuary Estates homes reported safe, but one barn damaged. Announcement made that Red Cross shelter for evacuees would open at 312 Santa Barbara Blvd. about 7 p.m.
5:21 p.m.: Burned area now about 1,900 acres, still 40 percent contained; more than 100 firefighters from Lee, Charlotte, Hendry and Collier counties on scene.
5:27 p.m.: Fire that jumped Burnt Store Road is extinguished.
5:57 p.m.: 2,000 acres reported burning, making it the largest brush fire by far in Cape Corals history; fire remains 40 percent contained.
7:07 p.m.: People bring supplies to Red Cross shelter for firefighters. No evacuees using the shelter.
8:30 p.m.: Residents allowed to return home.
9 p.m.: Burnt Store Road reopens; fire 70 percent contained.
