Weather, Storms & Hurricane Blog

Palm Bay Florida Homes Hit Hard By Wildfies

I was out covering the central Florida wildfires on Tuesday. I first started off the morning touring the hard hit area’s of southern Palm Bay, FL, where a firestorm moved through residential homes along Babcock Road on Monday. I filmed several homes completely leveled by the fires, and spoke to some residents that gave the scary stories of the day before. The homes and neighborhood were still smoldering, with the remains of once beautiful homes. The scene reminded me of when I covered the St Lucie West wildfires way back I believe in 1998 or so. Dozens of homes, vehicles and business burned to the ground from a fast moving fire just like the one on Monday in Palm Bay.

Fire Moves East Then Back West Across I-95

Meanwhile, the wildfire that produced all the damage, was still ongoing, and now beginning to turn more southerly as the winds that were strong on Monday from the west, were now turning out of the northeast. So, I opted to chase the fire, and setup on a two land overpass road that went over I-95 named Micco Road. This placed me high and in a excellent view of the fire and where it was expected to cross back over the interstate. It was weird to see the interstate car less, and only the occasional Florida State Trooper blasting by below. After several hours, the wildfire reached the interstate and my location just to the north. I was over taken with very heavy thick smoke and hot ash, and large fire flare ups could be seen up the road.

Firefighting Helicopters Working Hard On The Fire Below

Florida Department of Forestry began flying water helicopters, and they would scoop up water into buckets at a nearby lake, and drop it over the fire line along the interstate, and a line of power lines. Soon the fire was closing in, and myself, along with several other Brevard County Deputies had to turn and head east as the fire was about to cross our location. I then broke off that fire and did a large loop back around to Babcock Rd, where I found a dirt road leading to a farm that was under the gun with the fire approaches from the east.

Close Call For A Farmer With A Lot Of Animals

At the farm location just east of Babcock, and just north of Micco Rd , was my last stop of the day, and I stood outside the farm gate watching the fire line slowly approach and watched as cows ran away from the smoke and fire. Here I ran into a fellow Photographer from Scripts, and a local farmer who had a home a ranch just to the north with over 100 animals. The farmer was very concerned and was watching the helicopters drop water on the fire, and the fire crews dig ditches along the property lines. After several hours of intense smoke and nearby flames, I’m happy to report the helicopters were able to keep the fire down and save this mans farm.

So, overall, a very busy, smoked filled and hot day covering the Central Florida wildfires of 2008. It was hard to see that so many that suffered property damage from the fires, and all the emotions that come along with such a loss. It was very sobering speaking with them and watching them pick through the remains of everything they had. Unfortunately, the very dry weather is expected to continue through the week, and the wildfires will likely be in the forecast as well. I’ll be monitoring the fire situation this week and will update more if need be on the fires.

(3 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

 Loading ...