OSTEEN -- A little bit of rain late Monday afternoon was welcomed by fire crewsworking the 3,000-acre fire threatening the Lake Harney Woodssubdivision in southern Volusia County, Volusia County officials said.
Division of Forestry crews worked through the night to plow lines around the growing fire. The fire extends from State Road 46 (to the south east of Lake Harney Woods subdivision), has run through the east end of the subdivision (heading northwest), and extends to Lake Harney Road off of Maytown-Osteen Road in Volusia County.
There are approximately 200 to 220 homes in the Lake Harney Woods subdivision. Firefighters are providing structural protection to approximately two dozen structures -- homes, barns, sheds -- on the east end and another six structures on the north end of the subdivision.
There are no mandatory evacuations or road closures at this time. Motorists along S.R. 415, S.R. 44 and S.R. 46 and surrounding areas areadvised to drive with caution due to smoke in the area.
Citizens are reminded that Volusia County has a telephone notification system for alerting citizens of emergencies (such as an evacuation). This system uses phone numbers entered into a database. Citizens are encouraged to sign up for the notification system online at www.volusia.org (click on Emergency Management) to find the instructions. In addition to home phone numbers, citizens are encouraged to include cell phone numbers. For citizens who do not have Internet access, please call Volusia County Emergency Management at (386)
254-1500 to sign up.
Working Tuesday are the following public safety personnel:
Division of Forestry (DOF)
● Eleven dozers, two brush trucks, two helicopters, a fixed-wing aircraft, and a task force from the Panhandle comprised of two heavy dozers, two medium dozers and a brush truck. The Division of Forestry has requested an additional strike team of five brush trucks and a strike team of five medium dozers. These two strike teams are expected to arrive by Tuesday evening.
● Members of the DOF Interagency Incident Management Blue Team arrived Monday night from throughout the state to assume oversight in a unified command with Volusia County Fire Services and DOF.
Volusia County Fire Services
● Three tenders (water carriers), three brush attack trucks and members of Fire Walker team. (Fire Walkers represent a specialized team of career and volunteer personnel who have advanced training in fire behavior, strategy and tactics, incident management system positions and safety specific to wildland fires.)
Additional agencies assisting the Lake Harney Woods area fire are:
● A helicopter from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Commission
● Two heavy dozers from Volusia County Road and Bridge
● St. Johns Water Management District
● Volusia County and Florida Division of Emergency Management
● Volusia County Land Acquisition and Management
● Volusia County Property Appraiser’s Office
● Volusia County Fleet Management
● Volusia County Sheriff’s Office
● EVAC Ambulance
● Miami Corps (the fire extends to their property on the east side
of the fire)
For more information on fire safety, please visit the DOF web site at www.fl-dof.com.