Fla. Brush Fires Force Evacuations, Injure Black Bear
Source The Orlando Sentinel, Fla.
Brush fires on Wednesday near a closed golf course in Mount Plymouth and a marsh in south Lake County caused the temporary evacuation of eight homes and injured a black bear, officials said.
Homeowners in both locations were told they could go home in the afternoon after the fires were mostly contained.
Lake County Sheriff's Office spokesman John Herrell said a black bear was hurt in the Mount Plymouth area. He learned of the incident after resident Sean Antonio in the evacuated area on Sandwich Place shot video of the bear limping along in his front yard, on what appeared to scorched paws.
Herrell said Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials were notified and intended to look for the bear, which crawled into the woods.
Two dozen firefighters battled the Mount Plymouth blaze that started on an acre off Sackamaxon Drive, a densely populated area, and spread to 30 to 40 acres. The Florida Forest Service and Orange County Fire Rescue also responded to the fire, which according to neighbors was burning on a dried-up lake bed.
That fire is contained and no structures were damaged.
Residents who were evacuated live on Sandwich Place, which was closed. Deputies also shut down Sackamaxon Drive.
At Camp Challenge about a mile away, staff was temporarily evacuated, said Suzanne Caporina, the Easter Seals camp's vice president of programs. She said two employees live at the site, which has provided camp experiences for children and adults with disabilities for a half century. Also, a child-development center that leases space at the camp canceled its sessions as a precaution.
"It was such as windy day and the wind kept shifting," Caporina said. "It was difficult to see at the camp."
On the second front, about 200 acres of marsh and swamp area burned at Baptist Lake Road and State Road 33, six miles west of Florida's Turnpike.
Florida Forest Service spokesman Don Ruths said that five homes were temporarily evacuated but the residents were later allowed to return.
Ruths said the fire was 40 percent contained as of Wednesday afternoon, but that marsh conditions made it more difficult to bring in equipment because of possible sinking.
"This is the kind of fire where you basically babysit it, you keep the perimeter under control," he said.
It was unclear what started either fire, but the Mount Plymouth brush fire likely spread because of light wind and dry brush in the area earlier in the day, assistant fire chief Jim Dickerson said.
Copyright 2012 - The Orlando Sentinel, Fla.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
