Wildfires wreck Florida homes

Homeowners fought desperate losing battles today against relentless wildfires sweeping across Florida’s Atlantic coast.

Firefighters in the town of Palm Bay, about 40 miles south east of Orlando, spent more than 48 hours battling the state’s biggest blaze, which has damaged about 70 homes and scorched 3,500 acres.

“Everytime I turn around another house is on fire. We don’t have enough resources on our own to do a job like this,” said a spokeswoman for the town.

“It’s going to be challenging to get the fire under control,” he said.

Sections of the main routes Interstate 95 and Highway 1 were closed. All 18 schools in Palm Bay were shut.

Just south of Palm Bay, a 3,000-acre blaze destroyed at least four homes in nearby Malabar. One resident, Butch Vanfleet, tried in vain to protect the home he built in 1980 with a garden hose.

“It’s devastation,” he said. “All you see is nothing but ash in between the palm trees and the palmetto. There’s no grass. The fire just came so quickly, we barely got out of there.”

Governor Charlie Crist declared a state of emergency yesterday as dry, windy weather worsened conditions. His orders allow Florida to use federal funds and bring local emergency workers under state control. It also allows Florida to call on other states for help, if necessary.

Hundreds of firefighters were working flat-out, bulldozing highly flammable brush and vegetation and leaving behind less flammable dirt to keep the fires from advancing.