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Forest Service: Out-of-control St. Johns wildfire is rare

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — More than 24 hours after a scheduled prescribed burn got out of hand in St Johns County, crews from multiple agencies were still working to put out hot spots.

Florida Forest Service officials planned to burn 140 acres off County Road 208 beginning around 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Flames got out of hand when an unexpected wind gust blew an ember ahead of the area that was burning and caused the fire to spread, according to officials.

The 20-25 mph gust caused flames to burn 270 acres, according to Julie Maddux with Forest Service.

St. Johns County Fire Rescue units joined the Forest Service for “mop up” operations Wednesday.

Crews saturated the ground with water to extinguish hot spots.

Maddux said prescribed burns are meant to prevent wildfires, and conditions have to be just right to make that happen safely but what happened Tuesday is rare.

Maddux said statewide in 2015 the Forest Service burned more than 236,000 acres during prescribed burns.

She said no fires got out of hand because of conditions last year.

She said conditions that popped up Tuesday show how quickly circumstances can change.

An Action News Jax crew was at the scene Wednesday where crews were concentrated on another area where an ember created a hot spot.

The Forest Service is keeping a close eye on the area but Maddux said no homes were threatened by the fire.

“I went knocking on doors just to let them know that we were going to be in the area,” said Maddux. “And to let them know that they their homes weren't going to be in any danger.”