CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the location of the wildfire as the Prairie Creek Preserve area. The fire is in the area of Alachua County’s Balu Forest, south of State Road 20.
UPDATE: As of 2:30 p.m. Thursday, the fire’s size and containment level remain unchanged, per the Florida Forest Service Waccasassa Facebook page. Fire activity was reported to be picking up at that time, which is expected during mid-afternoon temperature changes, according to the post.
Air tankers made six fire retardant drops, spraying a substance to slow the spread of fire, on Wednesday. Helicopters dropped 22,000 gallons of water on the scene, according to the post. Now, the Florida Forest Service is working with multiple dozers, three brush trucks, a helicopter and an airplane to control the fire.
A wildfire in Alachua County has spread from 10 to 400 acres despite containment efforts by local fire services. No one has been harmed, and there are no nearby structures to suffer damage, according to Mark Sexton, the Alachua County communications director.
The fire, located on Northeast State Road 26 from County Road 234 up to State Highway 301 in Gainesville, was originally reported around 4 p.m. Wednesday. By 5:30 p.m., it had already spread to 150 acres while entirely uncontained, Sexton said.
The scene is in the area of Alachua County’s Balu Forest, Executive Director of Alachua Conservation Trust Tom Kay said in an email to The Alligator.
As of 7:25 p.m., about a third of the fire was contained, Sexton added, though the fire appears to be northbound.
As of 9 p.m., firefighters stopped the forward progression of the fire. The fire is still 400 acres and 30% contained, according to the Waccasassa Forestry Center’s Facebook page.
Waccasassa Forestry Center is the lead agency on the scene, accompanied by Alachua County Fire Rescue, the Windsor Fire Department, the Melrose Fire Department and the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office. The Florida Highway Patrol and the Department of Transportation are also present to monitor road closures.
Ludie Bond, the Florida Forest Service’s public information officer, said federal resources were ordered to aid the relief, including two helicopters to perform water drops and two air tankers to help with retardant release.
The cause of the fire remains unknown, Bond said, but the point of origin will be analyzed once the fire is put out.
“Right now, we’re focusing on containing and stopping the spread of this fire,” she said.
The dry vegetation of the area largely contributed to the fire’s spread, she added. Florida’s ongoing drought has fueled wildfires across the state “unusually early” in the year, and fires have flared in north central Florida because of its dryness, along with frequent wind patterns.
Alachua County issued an initial burn ban Jan. 30, which has been continuously extended eight times. Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a state of emergency for Alachua County in mid-February due to the drought and ongoing wildfire threat. The current county burn ban is active through April 17.
Bond said lately fires may be caused by small violations of the fire ban — because people either don’t know of the burn bans or are choosing to ignore them. On Tuesday, for example, the Florida Forest Service monitored a fire caused by household trash burning, she said.
Contact Maria Arruda at marruda@alligator.org. Follow her on X at @mariazalfarruda.
Maria Arruda is a second-year journalism and political science student, currently working as the City Commission reporter for The Alligator. Previously, she reported on Student Government under The Alligator's University desk. She enjoys running, reading and going to movie theaters!
