ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – Firefighters battled two brush fires started by lightning strikes in St. Johns County early Monday morning, and another wildfire in Nocatee came within 20 feet of a home Monday afternoon, according to forestry officials.
The extremely hot and dry conditions, combined with lightning from thunderstorms, continue to fuel wildfires in Northeast Florida.
The latest count has Florida Forest Service personnel monitoring 49 local fires, 11 of them sparked since Friday. Many of the fires are in Baker, Clay and Duval counties.
In St. Johns County, firefighters battled three fires that started within hours of each other.
The first fire started off Interstate 95, just south of State Road 206 in Hastings. The fire started directly across the highway from the rest area on the southbound side.
The second fire started off Godwin Road near U.S. 1 in St. Augustine. The Florida Highway Patrol, the Florida Forest Service and the Department of Transportation are monitoring the fire, which at one point grew to 8 acres.
Mokhtar Bouamrane said he called 911 after he saw flames less than a mile from his home.
"I saw a ball of flame coming up. Then I woke up my wife and after that I took the car and drove to U.S. 1 and then I saw the real fire," Bouamrane said. "I came back and called 911."
Firefighters set up a fire line to make sure it didn't get out of hand.
"It was going fast," Bouamrane said. "It was high. Higher than the tree, about 40 feet in the air."
Both of those fires have been contained and officials said the flames are not threatening any homes. But light smoke may still be visible in the area. Smoke warning signs have been placed in the area, and travelers are urged to use caution if they travel in the area because of possible smoke hazards.
The most recent St. Johns County Fire started in Nocatee just before 2 p.m. Monday near Blue Water Drive and Cape May Avenue.
A fire line has been set up to protect homes, which were within 20 feet of the wildfire at one point.
"The fire people were here very quickly, so I didn't think we were in trouble, but it is rather close," Betty Thompson said. "Of course, we don't want to lose our homes. I have to have faith in the fire department."
Senior forester Greg Dunn said crews normally work 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and then are on call. He said some could now be working up to 16 hours. During a bad stretch in 1998, crews had to work 24 hours straight, he said.
"It's been dry for so long. We get the lightning strikes. Yes, some rain comes with it, but not enough to actually put out the flames," Dunn said. "The dry fuels and the strong winds and the low humidity allowed it to dry out and get the fire started up again."
Another Nocatee fire has also sprung up near Preservation Trail and Ranch Road, officials said. Smoke started showing in that area around 1 p.m. Monday. No homes are threatened with that fire, which officials believe was also sparked by lightning.
People in the area are being told not to burn outdoors and to use caution when putting out cigarettes.
Current Active Wildfires in Northeast Florida
| Start Date | County | Fire Name | Location | Acres | Fire Cause | Containment | Comments |
| 6/17/15 | Baker | Mutual Aid USFS | Two fires off CR250 half mile north of US 90 – they are 3 miles apart | 65 100 | Lightning |
| Osceola National Forest has 2 fires near the battlefield east of Ocean Pond –fire lines around them but need to burnout vegetation inside lines |
| 6/18/15
| Baker | Mutual Aid USFS | Forest Road 202, ½ mile from Doyle Williams Road | 5 | Lightning | 100% | Osceola National Forest |
| 5/11/15 | Clay | Wheeler Branch | Jennings State Forest | 50 | Authorized Burn | 100% | Still smoking |
| 6/14/15
| Clay | Fleming Island | Half mile south of CR220 and half mile west of Hwy 17 | 8 | Undetermined | 100% | Still smoking- received 0.5" rainfall |
| 6/18/15 | Clay | Warner Road | Warner Road and Sungarden Road | 3.5 | Lightning | 100% | Put 1,800 gal water – still smoking |
| 6/19/15 | Clay | Craven | Craven Road, south of Spring bank Rd | 7.2 | Lightning | 100% | Put 75 gal water- still smoking |
| 6/20/15 | Clay | Cheswick | Argyle Forest Blvd and Cheswick | 2.5 | Lightning | 100% | No smoke showing |
| 6/21/15 | Clay | Rattlesnake Road | On Jennings State Forest at Bell Cemetery Road | 0.1 | 90% | Crews are on scene | |
| 6/21/15 | Clay | Sand Hill | Rosemary Hill Road, 2.5 mi east of CR 218 | 5 | Lightning | 100% | Contained at 4:30 pm on 6-21 |
| 6/18/15 | Duval | Golf Course | Timucuana Road east to Fair Lane Drive | 4 | Lightning | 100% | Put 150 gal water – no smoke showing |
| 6/18/15 | Duval | NAS Wannamacher | NAS Jax on southern perimeter | 8.1 | Lightning | 100% | Put 4,500 gal water – continue to monitor |
| 6/18/15 | Duval | Acree Road | Plummer Road to Acree on Thomas Creek Tract of Cary State Forest | 19.1 | Lightning | 100% | Smoking in the duff- continue to monitor
|
| 6/9/15 | Duval | Sandhill | East of Phillips Hwy and north of Nocatee Pkwy | 1 | Lightning | 100% | Still some interior smoke- put 300 gal water |
| 6/10/15 | Duval | San Pablo #1 | 1.75 miles south of JTB and 3 miles east of I295 | 15 | Lightning | 100% | Continue to monitor |
| 6/12/15 | Duval | San Pablo #2 | 1.75 miles south of JTB and 3 miles east of I295 | 48 | Lightning | 100% | Put 250 gal water – still smoking -continue to monitor |
| 6/15/15 | Duval | Island #1 | 11,000 block of New Berlin Road at Island Dr. | 1.8 | Lightning | 100% | Continue to monitor |
| 6/19/15 | Duval | Yellow Water Road | On Yellow Water- 1.5 miles south of I-10 | 7 | Lightning | 100% | Still smoking |
| 6/21/15 | Duval | Atlantic Blvd | Atlantic and Kernan Blvd. | 2 | Lightning | 100% | Contained at 1:21 am on 6/22 |
| 6/21/15 | Duval | Island 2 | 11201 New Berlin Road | 15 | Lightning | 100% | Contained at 4:10 am on 6/22- mopping up today |
| 6/22/15 | Duval | 0295 | Hodges | 0.5 | Lightning |
| Crew arrived |
| 6/22/15 | Duval | 0296 | Hodges | 1 | Lightning |
| Crew arrived |
| 6/22/15 | Duval | 0297 | Black Hammock Island east of Shark Rd and south of Franderson | 0.5 |
| Behind athletic field – crew arrived making access | |
| 6/1915 | Nassau | Ford Road | US 301 and Ford Road | 1.3 | Lightning | 100% | Still smoking in the duff- continue to monitor |
| 6/13/15 | Putnam | Old Buck Springs | 100 block of Buck Springs Rd 2 miles west of 309D | 51 | Lightning | 100% | Continue to monitor |
| 6/14/15 | Putnam | Yelvington | Yelvington Rd, 4 miles east of hwy17 | 10 | Equipment | 100% | Still smoking on interior- continue to monitor |
| 6/14/15 | Putnam | Middle Road | Middle Road, 4 miles west of Hwy 17 | 25 | Lightning | 100% | Continue to monitor – put 350 gal water |
| 6/18/15 | Putnam | Turkey | Interhachen, 1.5 mil east of 315 | 1 | Lightning | 100% | Smoking heavily |
| 6/19/15 | Putnam | Brahma | CR 315 to Blueberry | 2 | Lightning | 100% |
|
| 6/20/15 | Putnam | North Manning Road | West of Barton Road | 1.5 | 100% | Put 50 gal water- still smoking | |
| 6/20/15 | Putnam | Soggy Bottom | 1 mile east of Bardin Road on Fawn Trail | 1 | Lightning | 90% | Smoking heavily |
| 6/21/15 | Putnam | My Cousin | Cousin Town Road off CR 315 | 0.5 | Lightning | 100% | Still Smoking |
| 6/22/15 | Putnam | Cabbage Creek | East of Cousin town Road and north of CR 513 | 0.5 | Lightning | 100% |
|
| 6/22/15 | Putnam | Finley | West of 21, Hankley Lake Trail and Finley Lane | 1.5 | Debris burn | 100% | NOV issued |
| 5/21/15 | St Johns | Creek Side | North of 210 and west of 2209 | 56.7 | Lightning | 75% | Put 5,300 gal water |
| 5/28/15 | St Johns | 12-Mile Swamp | Quarter mile west of US 1 and 2 miles north of International Golf Pkwy | 38.8 | Undetermined Under investigation | 100% | Continue to monitor – one large hot spot remains |
| 6/9/15
| St Johns | GP | I-95 and SR 207 | 3.5 | Lightning | 100% | Put 60 gal water- 3 hot spots remain |
| 6/13/15 | St Johns | River Town | 3000 block of SR 13 near ball fields | 84 | Lightning | 95% | Put 100 gal water- still smoking - continue to mop up and monitor |
| 6/13/15 | St Johns | Bombing Range | Greenbriar, east of Colony Subdivision | 30 | Lightning | 90% | Put 300 gal water- still smoking continue to monitor |
| 6/16/15 | St Johns | Sanksville | 7500 block of CR208 | 2.5 | Undetermined | 80% | Light smoke - continue to monitor |
| 6/19/15 | St Johns | Racetrack Road | 2952 Racetrack Road | 0.1 | Lightning | 100% | No smoke showing |
| 6/19/15 | St Johns | Flower of Scotland | 160 Flower of Scotland Ave | 0.1 | Lightning | 90% | Still hot and burning – continue to mop up and monitor |
| 6/21/15 | St Johns | South 204 | 1 mile east of Old Brick Road | 1.7 | Lightning | 100% | FFS helo dropped 3 buckets of water |
| 6/21/15 | St Johns | Gander | East of the Outlet mall, north of Inman | 2 | Lightning | 100% |
|
| 6/21/15 | St Johns | Irish Acres | SR 207 and Twin Lakes Dr | 5 | Lightning | 100% |
|
| 6/22/15 | St Johns | Godwin | 825 Godwin Road | 7.3 | Lightning | 100% | Heavy smoke on US 1 this morning |
| 6/22/15 | St Johns | Palm Island | 2 miles east of US 1 , 1.5 mile north of Pine Island Rd in Nocatee | 5 | Lightning | 90% | Crews released |
| 6/22/15 | St Johns | Unknown | 1 mile east of US 1 and 1.5 miles north of Pine Island Road in Nocatee | 5 |
|
Trying to make access | |
| 6/22/15 | St Johns | 206 | 3 mi South of SR 206 and .5 mi east of I-95 | 13.1 | 100% at 3:33pm | Smoke signs in I-95 | |
| 6/22/15 | St Johns | Campbell | Campbell Lane off Johnson Lake | 0.1 | Lightning | 100% | Fire is knocked down tractor is staring to plow lines |