STUART, Fla. — Officials in Martin County said there are increased fire concerns on the Treasure Coast after two separate wildfires broke out in the county in a matter of days.
First, the Hungryland brushfire burned 800 acresof the Hungryland environmental area, destroying land owners' properties and encampments,resulting in tens of thousands of dollars in losses.
Then, as crews were continuing to put out the hot spots from that fire, crews with Martin County Fire Rescue and Florida Forest Service, Okeechobee District said a wildfire burned 80 acres near the Foxwood neighborhood in Stuart, threatening South Fork High School, Christ Fellowship Church and multiple homes in the area.
"I think the biggest concern for our crews was the proximity to homes and structures in the Foxwood neighborhood. That was a big focal point for crews," said Martin County Fire Rescue spokesman Cory Pippin.
One of those residents whose home was threatened was Ed Sotomayor, whose home lies just yards from where the fire burned.
"It really started flaring up," said Sotomayor. "It came this way pretty quick."
Sotomayor said he wasn't home at the time the fire started, but got a call from his son soon after, telling him he needed to come home immediately.
"My son was still panicking, but as we got closer we could see the black smoke, and when the smoke turned to white, I said, 'OK, that's a good sign. They're on it,'" said Sotomayor.
Sotomayor said he was able to stay so calm because he knew crews had the fire under control, and was thankful for their effort.
"It could have been a lot worse," said Sotomayor. "I can't thank the firemen enough. This could have been really really bad."
Pippin also said the end result could have been much worse had firefighters not responded as quickly or as efficiently as they did.
"I'd like to stress how incredible those crews performed, making sure those structures were safe," said Pippin. "They really worked tirelessly to make sure that no homes were damaged or impacted by this fire, which did have the potential to spread out of control if it wasn’t for the actions of those firefighters.”
Martin County Fire Rescue crews on Monday continued to monitor the fire, now named the Redwing Drive fire for the street on which it likely started.
Crews took WPTV along with them as they put out hot spots and watched out for any areas that could potentially spread.
Florida Forest Service spokesman Miguel Nevarez said the fire likely started from a blown power line transformer.
Sotomayor said that transformer was right in his neighbor's backyard.
"This is the limb that fell on the wire, and that was the palmetto that started everything," said Sotomayor, showing WPTV the power lines right behind his home. "[My neighbor] said by the time he got out here it was fully ablaze, and it all started going up like, poof, poof! It got pretty bad pretty quick."
Martin County Fire Rescue said the power knocked out power for several homes in the area, including South Fork High School, prompting the school to cancel classes Monday.
"Very scary," said Dan Matheson, whose son goes to South Fork. "But the good thing about Martin County schools is they air on the side of caution. They closed the school right away. Let us know last night."
Monday, the school district announced school would resume as normal for students Tuesday.
Nevarez said the danger his fire season is far from over, however. He said FFS measures the fire danger in an area by the Keetch-Byram Drought Index, or KBDI.
He said the scale measures the fire danger on a scale from one to 800, with one being the least dry, and 800 being the driest and most dangerous. He said typically for this time of year, we see a KBDI scale of 400 for this area, yet said this year, we're in the 600 range. He said the wildfires will only continue if that range doesn't improve.
"This is just the beginning if we don't see any precipitation," said Nevarez. "We've been so dry since the beginning of the year, we've actually been so lucky this wildfires haven't started earlier than we have right now."
Firefighters said the fire, which started about 2 p.m. Sunday, was 100% contained by 6 p.m. They didn't believe it has any more potential to spread.
Crews also urged the community to do their part in preventing wildfires. Currently, a burn ban is in effect for Martin County as the dry weather conditions continue.
For resources on what to do and what not to do to prevent wildfires, click here.
