HAMPTON, Fla. -- A fast-growing wildfire forced the evacuation of hundreds of families living near the Bradford-Alachua county line Wednesday afternoon.

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Firefighters Struggle To Control Blaze Families Evacuate As Bradford Fire Grows Fire Moving Closer To Homes

Officials are going door to door on the north shore of Santa Fe Lake, just west of state Road 100, asking people to leave. About 600 families in the area have been asked to voluntarily evacuate their homes.

The fire, which began Tuesday afternoon in the 6,000-acre Sante Fe Swamp, doubled in size overnight, then doubled again through the day. Forestry officials are still investigating the cause of the fire, but they believe it may have been sparked by a broken down vehicle.

The fire now involves an estimated 5,000 acres and is continuing to grow out of control.

High winds spread the flames east into a more populated area. The fire is headed for Keystone Heights.

In a statement from Clay County Fire Rescue, officials said fuels in the swamp, the high drought index, low humidity, and brisk winds are contributing to the fire's rapid growth. It was 10 to 20 percent contained and advancing to the north, forestry spokesperson Annaleasa Winter said Wednesday morning.

Fire Crews Try To Contain Blaze

Firefighters from Bradford, Alachua, and Clay counties joined the Division of Forestry in battling the blaze.

"I've seen bad stuff before, but this up there," state Division of Forestry's Rick Dolan said. "This is a pretty rough fire. There's a great threat to homes."

Much of the area burning is inaccessible to the forestry division's tractors and other heavy equipment, so helicopters are being used to drop water on the fire.

To further complicate issues, the fire is so large that it creates its own weather, sucking oxygen from the atmosphere and building up wind gusts.

Fire officials said they're worried about where the swamp fire is going and have difficulty strategizing in the ever-changing situation.

"It's a 3-mile wide flaming front, so for 3 miles it's going to impact everything along this road," said spokesperson Steve Ripley. "Where do you put firemen? You don't know 'til the fire gets there, because it's changed directions already."

State Road 100 between 21B and county Road 18 in Bradford County is closed, and traffic is being rerouted from the area.

Because evacuation shelters will not accept pets, the Bradford County Humane Society has opened spaces for 70 animals for those temporarily out of their homes. Also, people who need to board horses and cows can call the Bradford County Fairgrounds (904) 966-6300 to make arrangements.

Families Displaced

Amy Sanders, who lives near the Alachua-Bradford county line, said she was awakened at 2 a.m. by flames 50 feet from her back door.

"We could hear the fire, we could smell the fire," Sanders said on the morning show. "Our thoughts were to get our animals and kids and get out of here."

Forestry officials said they do not have a count on how many homes are evacuated, but the Red Cross told Channel 4 that at least 80 people in the Hidden Oaks area of Bradford County were evacuated. By Wednesday afternoon, 700 families were urged to voluntarily evacuate in Bradford County.

For now, all residents can do is hope for rain.

"I think the whole state of Florida would love rain," said one woman.

The Red Cross has opened shelters at Bradford County Middle School and at Waldo Community School in Alachua County. WJXT's Hetal Gandhi reported that they were prepared with meals for up to 500 evacuees.

Some area churches were also open to shelter people forced out of their homes. Fire officials warned residents who need to evacuate to not wait until it's too late.

Luckily, no one has been injured and no structures have been damaged so far in the blaze.

Bradford County Fire Slideshow

Fire's Effects Felt In Other Counties

While smoke and ash from the fire reached all the way to Duval and St. Johns counties, those closer are really feeling the effects of the fire.

"The ash is falling faster outside, like snowflakes, and the smoke is getting thick around here," Whitney e-mailed from Keystone Heights Wednesday morning.

A heavy cloud of smoke and ash over Clay County prompted county fire officials to place "smoke" warning signs along major arteries in the southern part of the county.

Many residents found ash covering their cars this morning, carried by increased winds into Duval County.

WILDFIRES INTERACTIVE Causes And Protections UPDATED MAPS NWS Fire Weather Forecast Florida Live Lightning Tracker Risk Of Fire Drought Index CURRENT FIRES N.E. Florida Fire Weather Forecast Map | Reports SATELLITE VIEWS U.S. Worldwide NASA Imagery RESOURCES Florida Dept. Of Forestry Protect Lungs From Smoke For Donations: Redcross.org

Channel 4 meteorologist John Gaughan said fire danger remains very high Wednesday, and though parts of Jacksonville got some rain Tuesday, the areas south and west of town got no rain and remain among the driest in Florida.

A burn ban is now in effect in six northeast Florida counties: Clay, Nassau, Baker, Bradford, Alachua, and Union.

Crews Battle Other Fires

Meanwhile, Nassau County firefighters are working two separate fires northwest of Callahan. Each is already more than 100 acres big. County Road 108 has been closed between Carol's Corner Road and Henry Smith Road. Only a few homes are threatened by these fires, and off-duty firemen are being called in to assist.

In another north Florida blaze, more than 100 firefighters gained ground on a fire covering nearly 3,000 acres in the remote John Bethea State Forest, north of Baxter near the Georgia border. The fire was 75 percent contained by late Tuesday with the help of a half-inch of rain on part of it, according to Gene Madden, a spokesman with the forestry division.

Winter said crews and tractors from that fire were being moved to the Santa Fe Swamp blaze.

In South Florida, the Alligator Alley portion of Interstate 75 was reopened about three hours after smoke from a 3,000-acre Everglades brushfire reduced visibility in the area to zero, forcing the road to be closed in both directions.

I-75, which crosses south Florida from state Road 29 in Collier County to U.S. 27 in Broward County, reopened shortly before midnight Tuesday, after winds pushed the fires north, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

Though flames around the highway had died down by early Wednesday morning, blazes continued to burn elsewhere, and troopers were monitoring the area, said FHP Lt. Roger Reyes.

"They're sporadic all over out there," he said of the fires. "It depends on Mother Nature and the shift of the wind."

The Alley is one of two east-west routes crossing the Florida Everglades. The other, Tamiami Trial between Miami and Naples, is a two-lane road for much of the way.

Meanwhile, a wildfire that consumed 1,300 acres in southwest Florida, prompting nearby Florida Gulf Coast University to cancel classes on Tuesday, was 100 percent contained, said Gerry Lacavera, wildfire mitigation specialist for the state Division of Forestry.

At one point over the holiday weekend, the fire got within 40 feet of the campus, and the smoke was so thick that an assistant campus fire chief couldn't locate his truck in daylight, said Robert Harris, the campus police chief.

The university reopened Wednesday.

WJXT has crews in Bradford County covering the fires.