JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Fire Rescue Department has now reported at least 17 fires in the last four days.
The First Alert Weather team said dry weather conditions over the last few months, coupled with the arctic freeze, helped to cause them. Some have been brush fires that never caused any damage to people or property, but two other fires on Tuesday created a much greater danger.
One of those fires was on Collins Road in Jacksonville’s westside, where JFRD reported a woman had died after a fire started in the Three Season mobile home community. The other fire happened in western Duval County, in the Glen Eagle neighborhood off Chaffee Road, where JFRD reported some property damage after a brush fire started in the woods.
Some homeowners told Action News Jax they were worried about losing their homes.
“It was really scary, I had hoses everywhere,” said Sol Irwin, who told us she had never before seen a fire in the neighborhood after 15 years of living there. “It spread really fast, it was a scary experience, especially because you saw the smoke and then suddenly you saw the fire.”
Between local agencies and reporting from the Florida Forest Service, Action News Jax has found that there have been dozens of fires reported across northeast Florida in the last week. Duval, Clay, and Putnam counties have each seen more than 12 reports of fires, including brush, building, and house fires, and other fires have been reported in Baker, Bradford, Nassau, and St. Johns Counties.
Open burning is heavily restricted year-round in Duval County. The First Alert Weather team has reported that, currently, the driest part of our area goes from Lake City to Starke and down to Palatka, which are areas with a higher fire risk while weather conditions are still dry.
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