INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — State and local firefighters returned to a wooded area where they contained a 4.3-acre brush fire that originated from a fire pit on Sunday, officials said. The small flames spread because of the dry conditions, along with strong wind gusts, as Indian River County remains under a burn ban.
“The (flames) got away from an illegal fire pit,” said Steve Greer, Assistant Fire Chief with Indian River County Fire Rescue. “Everything is dry from the (recent) freezing temperatures.”
Fire Rescue crews went back to the site Monday morning to monitor hot spots. The firefighters will periodically return to the area to make sure the flames do not rekindle, fire officials say.
“This isn’t the time to be burning anything in your yard,” said David Grubich, public information officer for the Florida Forest Service. The Keetch-Byram Drought Index – which uses a scale up to 800 to determine the risk of a wildfire – was between 550 and 599 for Indian River County on Monday, according to the Forest Service.
Indian River County Fire Rescue and the Forest Service responded to the fire about 3:30 p.m. Sunday near the 6000 block of 41st Street, northwest of Vero Beach. The flames were near a residential area, but there were no reports of injuries or damage, Greer said.
State fire crews plowed a line around the perimeter of the flames while local crews battled the blaze. The flames were knocked down, and the fire was fully contained as of 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, according to the Forest Service fire map.
The Vero Beach area had a peak wind gust of 34 mph just before 3 p.m. Sunday, said Brendan Schaper, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Melbourne.
“The whole county is in a severe drought,” Schaper said. “There’s a small chance of rain this week, but much of the week will stay dry.”
Indian River County implemented a burn ban that took effect Feb. 7 because of damaged vegetation from the recent freezing temperatures, along with the ongoing dry conditions. The burn ban, part of a local state of emergency for the county, remains in place until further notice.
