Chris Jones: Greene Publishing, Inc.
On Monday, March 20, at approximately 12:25 p.m., the Florida Highway Patrol received a report of a fire on the side of Interstate 10, near mile maker 259, north of the westbound lane. Madison Fire Rescue (MFR) arrived on scene first, and started combatting the fire, which, at that time, had only spread to the wooded area between the interstate and SE Bandit St. Before MFR could contain the fire, it jumped to SE Bandit St. and spread towards the property owned by Terrapointe, LLC., which presented a dangerous scenario as it is densely covered with pine trees. Several passers-by tried to stomp the fire out with their feet before it took hold of the pines, but the dry weather and heat of the fire made their attempts futile.
While the fire crew and regular citizens were fighting the flames, the smoke from the fire slowed traffic on Interstate 10 to a standstill, and condensed the two lanes into one. A combination of restricted visibility and typical “rubber-necking” contributed to the traffic problems.
A Florida Forest Service truck arrived at approximately 1 p.m., and offloaded a dozer and plow, which circled the fire on the north side of SE Bandit St, creating a make-shift fire break. As the dozer began plowing, a truck from the Lee Volunteer Fire Department arrived and laid a strong stream of water on the escalating fire. MFR continued battling the fire south of NE Bandit St, between the interstate and street. A deputy from the Madison County Sheriff's Office assisted with traffic control on NE Bandit St., west of the fire.
Crews continued to battle the fire for several hours, not being released until 4:30 p.m. The Forest Service was unable to define the exact cause of the fire, but due to the dry conditions and wind direction at the time of the fire, it was most likely started from a vehicle on the interstate; possibly by a discarded cigarette.