A 204-acre brush fire in Port St. Lucie is 100% contained after it burned for two days.
Florida Forest Service officials said they contained the fire completely by Thursday evening.
Still, smokey conditions lingered throughout St. Lucie and Martin counties.
Thursday night, Florida Forest Service crews left the area, leaving the task of monitoring the conditions in a wooded area off Becker Rd. to St. Lucie County firefighters.
Fire crews drove down the containment line periodically to make sure nothing would reignite.
Florida Power and Light crews also repaired a couple burned power poles Thursday.
The fire risk drops significantly at night, according to Melissa Yunas with the Florida Forest Service, allowing her crews to back down.
“For safety reasons, we really don’t do too much [at night] because our equipment could easily get stuck. We might get hurt or damaged. There might be something that we don’t see, a hazard for some reason,” Yunas said.
Though the fire is contained, crews will continue to check the area for days. Particularly, keeping any small fires away from highly flammable vegetation, like Melaleuca trees.
Yunas says their paper-like bark spreads fires easily.
“What happens is it catches on fire. Then, because it’s a little more substantial, it will float with the wind, especially with the high winds. It could easily cross Becker Road and then catch the next section of woods on fire,” Yunas said.
She also urges homeowners to use this as a reminder to protect their properties from spreading fires by getting rid of dry vegetation and keeping it trimmed away from their homes.
The Florida Forest Service will begin mopping up Friday morning.
