| 16 weeks 1 day 10 hours ago Crews gain control of Florida wildfire
|
PALM BAY, Fla. (AP) - Firefighters made major gains against a
wildfire that has charred thousands of acres along the Atlantic
coast as police questioned a man seen tossing a Molotov cocktail
into nearby woods.
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.
A total of 4,700 homes were still without power in surrounding
Brevard County on Wednesday evening, after officials shut off
electricity as a precaution. Fifteen people were in shelters.
Firefighters credited additional support and equipment for help
containing the fires, which have burned about 15 square miles -
9,600 acres - in Palm Bay and neighboring Malabar.
Authorities Wednesday questioned 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 allegedly 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.
Elsewhere, scattered fires were still burning around the state
Wednesday. A total of almost 26,000 acres - 40 square miles - were
ablaze as of Wednesday evening, according to an emergency
management report.
Aside from the fires in Palm Bay and nearby 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.
In California, hand crews worked in the dark, trying to make
more progress against a stubborn 320-acre wildfire. The blaze on
Mount Baldy, 45 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles, was being
fed by winds reaching 40 mph. Firefighters were concerned the
flames would be pushed across a road and closer to houses.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
