ORMOND BEACH, Fla. – A 130-acre brush fire that threatened dozens of Volusia County homes on Thursday is now fully contained, officials said.
The Florida Forest Service said the fire, which burned in the Ormond Beach area, threatened about 75 homes and caused smoky conditions on Interstate 95.
[TRENDING: Become a News 6 Insider]
“What we’re talking about when we say we protected 75 homes, we’re talking about the homes that are along all that perimeter where the fire was, the fire was quite a distance from their home however it did look pretty significant,” said Julie Allen, with the Florida Forest Service. “All you could see was the glow.”
Allen said personnel are setting a perimeter of the fire using GPS to get a better number of acreage.
Rick Brown is a resident of the Cypress Trail neighborhood. He said his entire backyard was lit up from the Daytona Pines wildfire.
“It was really bad about 10 p.m. Flames shooting up 30 feet from my fence and the winds blowing. Blowing it right toward me,” Brown said.
Allen confirmed two other fires occurred in the area earlier this week and believes someone caused the fires, but it’s not clear if it was accidental or on purpose.
“We did determine that they are human caused however just because we make the statement that it is human caused, does not indicate that there is a major problem out there. Those two fires are being investigated,” she said.
Chuck Childers, who lives in the area, said “it was a lot more” than he thought it’d be.
“It was really hot and then kind of this morning was really bad. I thought it was foggy. I could not see more than 10 feet in front of me and it was just the smoke,” he said. “We had total privacy but now it’s not. But it’ll grow back. You can’t worry about things you can’t control.”
Earlier in the day, fire officials tweeted, “Crews continue to improve containment lines, but nearly 75 homes protected with no damages! GREAT WORK!!!!”
I-95 remained open in the area.
The Florida Forest Service said crews will be out there until the fire is what they call “dead out.” They said to expect smoke in the area in the coming days.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
The #DaytonaPines fire is now 100% contained at 130 acres. This is the final update on this wildfire unless something significant occurs. pic.twitter.com/RQmMBWPvcV
— FFS Bunnell (@FFS_Bunnell) February 10, 2023