NSBNews.Net provides Volusia County with 24 / 7 Internet newspaper coverage for a 21st-century world. This website can also be accessed through VolusiaNews.Net
.jpg)
Courtesy photo / This Department of Transportation camera image Tuesday on Interstate 95 shows the intensity of the nearby wildfire straddling the Volusia and Brevard County lines.
OAK HILL -- Even though the so-called Iron Horse wildfire has quadrupled from 4,000 acres to 16,000-plus acres, officials say the worst of it is behind us with most of the damage south of Oak Hill in neighboring northern Brevard County.
With some rainfall early Tuesday, fire crews were able to make some progress, with 25 percent of the fire contained, Volusia County spokeswoman Pat Kuehn said.
Southerly winds means the fire has stopped spreading in Oak Hill and that comes asa relief to Mayor Darla Lauer who was getting updates from a command post set up at the Oak Hill City Hall throughout the day Tuesday.
"I'm hoping the worst is behind us," Lauer said, noting a city commission meeting Monday night was canceled as the fire erupted along the Volusia border with Brevard, destroying two unoccupied hunting shacks deep in the woods of Oak Hill.
A state of emergency remains in effect in northern Brevard County, with the rural communities of Mims and Scottsmoor bearing the brunt of the smoke. One Brevard County firefighter was treated for burns to his face Tuesday, but there were no other reported injuries, officials said.
A voluntary evacuation of homes in Mims was called off late Tuesday and U.S. 1 and Interstate 95 were fully opened to traffic following intermittent closings over the last 48 hours.
The fire was dubbed the Iron Horse" by a Brevard County fire official who was on his way to the Iron Horse Saloon in Ormond Beach for Bike Week motorcycle rally, which gets under way later this week.
Volusia County spokeswoman Kuehn said Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam and Florida Division of Forestry Director Jim Karels will discuss the ongoing wildfires in Central Florida in a 3 p.m. news conference today at the Iron Horse Incident Command Post at Oak Hill City Hall, 234 S. U.S. Highway 1.