Fire contained – threat still exists

Division of Forestry, St. Johns County Fire-Rescue and firefighters from Flagler and Duval counties have all been pitching in to combat the reported 1,300 acre fire that jumped the road between highways US-1 and Interstate 95, south of SR-206.

The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Mobile Command Center was stationed at a parking lot west of the Interstate at SR-206 until late yesterday morning.

“All roads around the fire at SR-206 and US-1 will be open in the next 10 minutes,” Mulligan notified the Historic City News desk. “Personnel will continue to monitor the site for the potential of future road closures, if needed.”

The fires, near the border between St. Johns and Flagler counties, at times sent dense smoke across the highways; impairing driver visibility and causing backups for miles as traffic was diverted to SR-A1A, US-1 or I-95, depending on the direction of the winds.

As of 5:00 p.m. yesterday, fire breaks were still being bulldozed through the heavily-treed areas of the scene and smoldering highway billboards mixed with the charred remains of what were once tall pines could be observed along the west side of the Interstate, close to US-1.

Palm Coast Fire Chief, Mike Beadle, told Historic City News reporters attending a city council meeting last night, that he has officers and equipment standing by and participating in the containment efforts.

Some light and scattered showers overnight Monday aided firefighters in their efforts yesterday; however, they did more to dissipate the smoke than actually extinguish flames. St. Johns Fire-Rescue spokesman Jeremy Robshaw has cautioned that just because the blazing flames have died down, does not mean that the threat no longer exists since the embers of the wildfire may re-kindle.

Photo credits: © 2011 Historic City News staff photographer