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Crews fight 2 wildfires in Clay County

By Brittney Donovan and Larry Spruill, Action News Jax
By Brittney Donovan and Larry Spruill, Action News Jax

Crews fought two wildfires in Clay County on Wednesday, including one that has grown to an estimated 40 acres.

Florida Forest Service said four bulldozers and numerous county resources responded to a wildfire off U.S. 17 and Crowl Road south of Green Cove Springs.

Forestry crews and a helicopter fought another 6- to 10-acre fire off Pine Ridge Parkway in Middleburg.

Neighbors forced out by the flames in Middleburg were allowed to return home.

The First Alert Weather Team said the wildfire threat is only expected to get worse.

It was a race against time.

“They have been working diligently, to try and plow lines, and work in there,” said Annaleasa Winter with Florida Forest Service.

That’s the plan the firefighters are going by, Winter said, trying to put out the flames before they get too close to homes. Neighbors could only watch and hope for the best.

“It scares me. It’s crazy,” said Tiffany Ledford.

Ledford and Millie Davis live near the woods. They were coming home from work, when they saw the fire.

“It’s crazy, we just got home from work and we saw everything, like 'Whoa, what’s going on' and we looked, and was like, 'Oh, it’s a fire,'” Davis said.

Crews said the fire threatened nearby homes when it first started.

Crews said the 39-acre fire off U.S. 17 and Crowl Road south of Green Cove Springs was started near railroad tracks, but didn’t affect any homes.

Meanwhile, in Middleburg, the cause of the first is still under investigation

“It was caused, by a human cause, whether it was accidental or intentional, we haven’t yet determined. A lot of people use that area, there are a lot of activities going on, in there. I’m sure it was an accident, but we’ll do an investigation tomorrow,” said Winter.

Cox Media Group

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