The perimeter of a 2,088-acre wildfire in northeast Gainesville was secured by Saturday evening, but stronger winds on Sunday could push the fire toward more fuel.
Five fires that started on 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 moved west and developed two heads.
It spread to 1,200 to 1,500 acres, said Ludie Bond, district spokeswoman for the Florida Fire Service. It threatened five buildings near CR 1475, although no evacuations were ordered.
Homes off of CR 225 were still threatened by the fire on Saturday, and officials set up a roadblock on the street between Northeast 156th Ave. and CR 1475.
Alachua County Fire Rescue, volunteer firefighters, Florida Forestry Services, Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, Gainesville Fire Rescue, Gainesville Police and Red Cross had responded to the various fires.
Bond 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 are patrolling the fires to look for suspicious activity. No injuries have been reported.
Rain is predicted on Sunday, but if the fires aren’t suppressed by Monday, winds out of the west could push the fires right into a large area of dry timber.
“If it starts spotting and jumping over here, you could be looking at a 5,000-acre fire,” Bond said.
As the noon sun hung in the smoky sky on Saturday, brothers Leon and Vernon Fuller waited in two small tractors, looking 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 plow paths about 10 feet wide with tractors, knocking trees and debris away from the path.
“[Fire] won’t burn the bare ground,” Fuller said.
Foresty workers widened the containment lines to 20 to 30 feet on Saturday in preparation for strong winds Sunday.
By Saturday evening, Bond said, the perimeter of the 2,088-acre fire was secured.
A fire-fighting helicopter is seen from the corner of County Road 225 and County Road 1475 Friday afternoon.
The forest fire is seen from County Road 225 on Friday afternoon.
A tractor is taken to the scene of the fire to dig a fire line to prevent the wild fire from spreading.
