PALM BAY, Fla. -- A large fire on central Florida's east coast is longer growing out of control and officials were hoping communities in the area could begin to return to normal on Thursday.

Schools that had been closed for two days were expected to reopen Thursday, electricity was being restored and many residents had already returned to the area where about 20 homes were destroyed and 140 structures damaged by wildfires.

In another encouraging sign, some of the thick black plumes of smoke hanging over the area had begun to dissipate late Wednesday.

A total of 4,700 homes were still without power in Brevard County on Wednesday evening, after officials shut it off as a precaution, and 15 people were in shelters.

But officials were hoping for calm winds overnight and an increase in humidity, which would help them fight the fires that have burned about 15 square miles in Palm Bay and neighboring Malabar.

"In the beginning we were trying to play catch-up with the fires," said Palm Bay Assistant Fire Chief Jim Stables.

Stables said firefighters have since gotten the additional support and equipment they needed and begun to contain the fire, which officials believe was set by an arsonist or arsonists.

Late Wednesday authorities were questioning a man they arrested earlier in the day. Police said Brian Crowder, 31, was expected to be charged with setting a small fire in the area of the larger blazes. Palm Bay Police Chief Bill Berger said he believed there was a "good possibility" Crowder would be charged with that small fire. Berger said, however, that Crowder has denied being involved with the larger fires, which have cost millions in damage.

A resident alerted police after seeing Crowder throw an object from his car that sparked a small fire in the woods, Palm Bay Detective Ernie Diebel said. The object was a glass bottle containing an accelerant, Berger said.

Crowder was stopped a short time later and apprehended after fleeing from police. He was found hiding under a pile of leaves in nearby woods. Records show that he has drug, burglary and automobile theft convictions dating from 1996. He was charged Wednesday with six probation violations.

Other, scattered fires were also still burning around the state Wednesday. A total of almost 26,000 acres - 40 square miles - were on fire as of Wednesday evening, according to an emergency management report.

Aside from the fires in Palm Bay and Malabar, the majority of the fires were in Glades County. In an area around Lake Okeechobee, roughly 11,000 acres had burned or were still burning, though no structures had been damaged. A second wildfire on the Brighton Seminole Indian Reservation was burning about 1,000 acres, but winds had settled down and no structures were threatened late Wednesday.

Firefighters were also battling a 10,000-acre blaze in Everglades National Park that's threatening the scrubland nesting grounds of a rare bird. Park managers usually allow wildfires to burn out on their own, but they do try to protect the Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow whenever possible, Dave Hallac, the park's chief of biological resources, told The Miami Herald.