MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — Crews said they have contained a brush fire that ignited Thursday afternoon in Martin County.
Martin County Fire Rescue said their overnight crews were swapped out with a new team Friday morning, as they remain in the area of 78th Avenue near the Stuart West and Cobblestone communities to monitor potential hot spots from Thursday’s large brush fire.
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The blaze, named the "gator fire," is now 100% contained at 188 acres, according to the Florida Forest Service.
Martin County Fire Rescue said the brush truck will stay in place all day and staffed to ensure that if there are any issues, they will be ready.
The biggest concern for Friday is wind gusts, the Florida Forest Service said.
“In addition to the sustained winds and the gusts, you're going to have what's called higher dispersion," David Grubich, public affairs mitigation officer for the Florida Forest Service, said. "We're going to have a higher dispersion today than what we had yesterday, which means more air can come into this fire and make it grow.”
The Florida Forest Service said they were expecting 2 p.m. to be the busiest for “fire behavior.”
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“What we have is a window right now between now and 2 p.m., 2 p.m. is going to be our lowest humidity for the day," Grubich said. "When we get to 2 p.m., that's when we're going to expect the fire behavior to be at its worst.”
Grubich said the cause of this fire was a lightning strike.
The fire is not out yet, however, the Florida Forest Service said it will be in the area monitoring the fire until it is extinguished. People will likely still see smoke lingering.
