About 260 separate fires were burning more than 20,545 acres in the state, said Jim Harrell, a spokesman for the state Division of Forestry. About 20 homes near Freeport in Walton County in the Panhandle were evacuated as a 1,200-acre fire threatened the neighborhood. An evacuation was ordered for parts of northeast Alachua County on Monday night due to a nearby 3,000-plus acre fire.
It was not clear exactly how many people would be affected, but Harrell said it is a rural area with scattered homes. Hundreds of miles away, three dozen residences in Lake County near the Wekiva River were also evacuated. That order was lifted after crews controlled a 1,000-acre blaze that crept within a quarter-mile of some homes, Lake County spokesman Chris Patton said.
Officials say conditions across the state are critical, with humidity at dangerously low levels inland and winds gusting over 20 mph. Hundreds of residents are on standby to evacuate, and Gov. Charlie Crist declared a state of emergency last week.
"It's getting interesting and I don't think it's going to get better soon," state Emergency Management Director Craig Fugate said. Causing additional concern was a 6,100-acre fire about 4 miles west of Ormond Beach on Florida's east coast. Harrell said tankers were dropping retardant in an area between that fire and a subdivision called Rima Ridge, hoping to keep the blaze away from homes.
"They're ready for evacuation on short notice, but so far they're still in their homes," Harrell said. Firefighters were also working another large blaze, covering almost 900 acres between Eustis and DeLand in central Florida. Nearly 50 of the fires started Sunday, about half of them caused by lightning from a line of thunderstorms that moved through the state too quickly to soak out the blazes, Harrell said.
So far, no injuries have been reported in any of the fires. Associated Press Writer Travis Reed in Orlando, Fla. contributed to this report.
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