Forestry workers continued to battle a 350-acre fire in Nalcrest on Monday that they officials think was sparked by a lightning strike last week.
- 350-acre brush fire breaks out in Polk County
- Blaze was 50 percent contained Monday
- Fire is off Highway 60 in Nalcrest
- 8 homes threatened, evacuated
Rick Cantu rode his bike past the smoldering remains of the fire Monday along the road running into the Nalcrest community off Highway 60 east of Lake Wales.
“It moves quick,” he said. “I watched it jump onto a palm tree and that palm tree went up in a matter of seconds.”
There is only one road going in and out of Nalcrest, so many residents worry about how they would evacuate if the fire flares up in a major way again.
“You wonder what you are going to do,” resident Joseph Nittoli said. “Where you are going to go? If you want to go in the water, you can’t go in the water because of the alligators.”
Todd Chlanda with the Florida Forestry Service said the fire was about 50 percent contained Monday.
“We are still working on containments lines around the fire,” Chlanda explained.
Even though it wasn’t fully contained Monday, dozens of residents felt safe enough to leave their homes behind and go about their plans for the day. Some, like Nittoli, were getting on buses to attend a spring training game in Lakeland.
“They said we should be OK. I’m going to trust them, so I hope so,” Nittoli said.
Eight homes were threatened by the fire and evacuated. The evacuation order was lifted around 7 p.m. Sunday.
On Sunday, several bulldozers and brush trucks were brought to the scene to dig grooves to help fight the fires.
Crews were still putting out spot fires and dropping water in the area.
Roughly a year ago in February 2017, about 5,000 acres burned along Highway 630. The "630 Fire" left at least a dozen families homeless. Another brush fire in late April of that year burned 700 acres near Indian Lake Estates and was estimated to have caused $1 million in damages.