The perimeter of a 2,088-acre wildfire in northeast Gainesville was secured Saturday evening and held through Monday night, thanks to rain and slowed-down winds.
Five Alachua County fires that started Friday spewed enough smoke for Florida Highway Patrol to block traffic, and one of the blazes threatened five buildings near County Road 1475.
The largest of the five fires moved west and developed two heads.
On Saturday officials set up a roadblock on the street between Northeast 156th Avenue and CR 1475. The road was clear with no smoke by 10:30 a.m. Monday.
Officials worried winds out of the west could push the fires right into a large area of dry timber, and Bond speculated that enough wind could fan the flames into a 5,000-acre fire.
The area accumulated at least 1.5 inches of rain, she said, and fire activity was minimal as of Monday night. Sunday night, five personnel, three brush trucks and three tractors stood by in case the blaze grew. Three personnel with brush trucks, one supervisor and two trucks observed the fire Monday.
Alachua County Fire Rescue, volunteer firefighters, Florida Forestry Services, Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, Gainesville Fire Rescue, the Gainesville Police Department and the Red Cross had responded to the various fires.
Ludie Bond, district spokeswoman for the Florida Fire Service, said these fires mirror fires set by an unknown suspect this weekend last year. They could be instances of arson.
“They seem suspicious,” she said.
Police helicopters patrolled the fires during the weekend to look for suspicious activity.
No injuries have been reported.
But the fire could hurt more than just people.
As the noon sun hung in the smoky sky on Saturday, brothers Leon and Vernon Fuller waited in two small tractors and looked out for more fire moving toward Leon Fuller’s 80 acres of mostly pine trees.
About half of the land burned overnight, said Leon Fuller, who worked for the Division of Forestry in the 1980s.
The brothers were up at 2 a.m. putting out fire by plowing containment lines with the tractors, Fuller, 65, said.
To keep fire from spreading, the Fullers and forestry workers plowed paths about 10 feet wide with tractors, knocking trees and debris away from the path.
“[Fire] won’t burn the bare ground,” Fuller said.
Forestry workers widened the containment lines to 20 to 30 feet on Saturday in preparation for strong winds Sunday.
But rain during the second half of Memorial Day weekend quenched many of the flames and left the fire manageable. Bond said the status of the fire depended on the weather early in the week.
