The controlled burn that escaped into a 170-acre wildfire in the woods near U.S. 1 and Old Dixie Highway Wednesday afternoon, requiring the evacuation of a dozen homes, was brought to at least 50 percent containment overnight as rain helped and evacuations were rescinded, emergency officials said this morning. U.S. 1, which had been closed in both directions in that area, was reopened. No homes or other structures were lost.
The fire, officially called the U.S. 1 South Fire, started around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday then started spreading east and north, “dying down for a while, until all of a sudden, it kind of cleared back up in the evening,” Flagler County Emergency Management Director Jonathan Lord said. The flareup took place near the Community Baptist Church on Old Dixie Highway.
“It got much stronger, which caused the fire department to request our support with evacuations,” Lord said. An area of 2 to 3 square miles was evacuated. “Knock on wood, it’s not a very populated area, but a lot of large properties with a handful of homes. Initially, it was probably a couple dozen homes, until we were able within 30 minutes to shrink it down to about 10 homes. And that stuck around for a few hours up until about midnight, which is when the fire shrunk down enough and was not growing as much anymore.”
The evacuation order was rescinded a little before midnight.
“In the end, I think it went well,” Flagler Fire Rescue Chief Michael Tucker said early this morning. “We were able to get ahead of the fire and get it under control. So the crews worked together well, our fire service partners are great to work with, so we were happy with the outcome. But it definitely got a little bit concerning for a while.”
Flagler County FireFlight, the emergency helicopter, dropped 25,200 gallons of water on the fire Wednesday and 20 gallons of foam. “FireFlight is a great asset for us, it helped us get to places we can’t normally get to,” Tucker said.
Emergency Management had opened a shelter at Fire Station 16 on Old Dixie Highway (the station is geographically in Volusia County, but it is staffed by Flagler County Fire Rescue personnel). Staffers operated the shelter with the Red Cross on standby, should it be needed. But no one showed up, so the shelter was shut down, with resources still available had individuals requested help.
“Around midnight, the Fire Department and Forest Service decided to scale back the entire operation, because the fire wasn’t spreading and was becoming under control,” Lord said. “At that point it was about 50 percent under control. It probably is more by now at sunrise.” Crews were working on keeping it contained with bulldozers.
“We did get some rain last night. It was not significant, but the county is wet finally,” Lord said. “That’s only going to help keep the fire down and eventually fully knock it out.” The information Lord had was that it had started as a controlled burn.
“Today is a matter of just riding the lines, making sure it’s staying in and then just trying to hit the hot spots,” Tucker said. “Things should be better today.” He cautioned: “Just because there’s been a little bit of rain doesn’t mean we can let our guard down. Things can dry out very fast, and so we’re just still asking everybody to be very careful.”
The bulk of the rain has passed, with drier conditions expected for the rest of the day.
“While the evacuation orders are lifted, just be cautious of heavy smoke in the area,” Lord said. “Right now throughout most of the county you can still smell the smoke, but as it dries back out again, you might start seeing some smoke in some areas again. So just just be cautious on the roadways, particularly near where the fire was.”
Tucker is also asking gawkers to stay away, as they create obstructions for fire personnel who are trying to focus on the emergency. “People who like to come out and just look are more of a problem and they’re in the way,” Tucker said.
The fire–the largest fire in the county since last April’s 250-acre Cowpen Fire off County Road 305 in west Flagler–drew responses from the Florida Forest Service, Flagler County Emergency Management, Flagler County Fire Rescue, the Palm Coast Fire Department, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, the state Department of Transportation, the Florida Highway Patrol and the Palm Coast Fire Police.
The fire, Palm Coast Fire Chief Kyle Berryhill said, is close to the city boundary and close to an area that has had serious wildfires before. “And so today, even though we did see some rain last night, we are up-staffing an attack truck, which is a wildland attack truck. It will be in that neighborhood, kind of just scouting for any trouble spots, making contact with residents, seeing what’s going on. If it seems like we’re good, we might send them home early. But our plan is to be very proactive and let our residents know that we’re committed to not losing a structure to a wildfire. So that’s what we’re doing for today, and helping to mop that fire up and keep it contained.”
Berryhill also cautioned against prematurely letting guards down while a fire is still actively smoldering and conditions dry up. “When it’s dry and there’s some other weather conditions, one of them is called dispersion,” Berryhill said. “Wind is a huge factor in wildland fire. Weather is a huge part of fighting fire in general, but really we’re talking about wildland firefighting especially. An ember can float up from the fire, as the smoke and heat and embers do, and then get caught in a wind draft and do something that we call spotting. Then that ember lands out in front of where that fire is at the time, and those embers then become the source of a new fire that we call spot fire. A lot of times, if the wind is pushing in a direction, that area is kind of pre dried out and preheated from the smoke and the fire. A wildfire can move really, really fast.”
Just because the vegetation is green doesn’t mean it won’t burn–not in Florida. “In most parts of the country, if it’s green, you don’t have to worry about it. It’s not going to burn,” Berryhill said. “But in Florida, that’s decisively not true. Green things burn, and some of them burn incredibly hot in ways that are very unique. So it’s an interesting problem for the fire service, but it’s one that I would say the three agencies in Flagler County are really, really adept at mitigating and taking care of.”
Harriet says
Thanks for all of the hard work to the Florida Forest Service, Flagler County Emergency Management, Flagler County Fire Rescue, the Palm Coast Fire Department, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, the state Department of Transportation, the Florida Highway Patrol and the Palm Coast Fire Police!
FlaglerLive says
And thank you for the fabulous photography: Harriet knows.
Harriet says
Thank you!
Thoroughly disgusted says
It’s always smart to have one of these “controlled” burns that always seem to get out of control, when we’ve had virtually no rain for months, and it’s windy, dry and cold. Makes perfect sense – NOT. These fires are all preventable. How anyone can even consider having a “controlled” burn in these conditions is ridiculous.
JimboXYZ says
Exactly, it’s like a California Gavin Newsom wildfire. Nobody wants to be accountable & responsible. Thank God there wasn’t another fire in a higher population & residential density location that was a true accidental event that required resources to be extinguished.
Rayna Sink says
Hi, my name is Rayna, my husband Billy and I own two properties that the fires were invading and by the immediate response of our Neighbors Christie and Kent Corbin and Limitless Repair Service, we can’t thank you all enough for the call to 911 and her contact with me in such a short time was truly appreciated and literally saved everything we’ve been working for and our retirement to come. With them and the amazing response of fire and forestry teams, the helicopters and the people of this county will be forever respected, appreciated and praised for their endless efforts in trying to keep us all safe. With the winds blowing and shifting constantly we were truly in a scary and overwhelming position and they never left our properties. Forestry teams were in constant contact with us the entire day, giving updates and just extending their concerns for us will never be forgotten. We were truly blessed to be in the hands of these wonderful people who went above and beyond their job descriptions, there will never be enough words or compassion to express how grateful we are and to everyone who reached out and were ready to help and offer their own personal equipment for instance Chase Rogers and Candice Morgan with Rogers Landworks literally sat across the street to make sure we were safe and ready to react if needed, Lawnlife and Joe’s Site Service to mention a few along with so many others, we are most grateful for you all. Thoughts and prayers to all involved and blessed no one was injured and no structures were affected. We only lost some trees and silt fencing so thank the Lord. Most thanks again to everyone involved in yesterday and today’s incidents. They are still behind our house and RV park with dozers maintaining the fires and smoldering areas that are still burning as we have turpentine trees and lighter knot so it’ll take some time but again they are right on top of it and we know we’re in the best, most capable hands. Bless you all from the bottom of our hearts🙏🏼
JimboXYZ says
Don’t see who was named as responsible, authorized for conducting the controlled burn ? Who is paying for the scramble of Fire Department resources ? The 25K gallons of water ? Someone started the fire, it’s a relative sanctioned arson for ever getting out of control, it’s not a wildfire ? Let’s stop spinning the Volusia & Flagler County wildfires that have become relatively California Gavin Newsom-like. Nobody is going to have a sense of humor & understanding for those that burned down their homes & contents. Piles of timber a little further towards Belle Terre on US-1 where the new construction is across from the salvage yards there.
Gina says
Right Jimbo! STOP THANKING the ones who could have prevented this
“controlled burn” in the first place and could have costs lives , it surely
impacted the habitats of our ever shrinking wildlife.These “controlled
burns” are BS! They impact and exacerbate conditions with people who have
breathing conditions: asthma, COPD, ,CHF, emphysema, chronic bronchitis,
etc. These “controlled burns” are for the developers, IT’S CHEAPER FOR
them than to clear areas for developement THE RIGHT WAY with equipment.
Did they send in consultants for a wildlife study or did they just burn
them out, they spend money and send in consultants for all types of studies
i.e. traffic calming. Once again it’s money before lives.
JimboXYZ says
I wonder how the 25K water that was used for this affects the reservoirs as reserves for something that were to really be a true wildfire. Any of this budgeted for in the City of Palm Coast Utility increases ? Budgets for existing Fire Department & expansion for the 6,000+ new construction approved for Bunnell ? Are we in a relative drought period. The rain that came & went was pretty weak for the months of November 2025-presemt February 2026 that wasn’t wet monsoon weather, not exactly drought either. Do we have more water for the next “wildfire” event & windier conditions that spread those ?
I do appreciate having the Fire Department resources to handle these types of wildfires. But let’s face it, the Fire Department has grown to be sufficient for a larger population of approved growth that has yet to be a base to make the larger Fire Department affordable.
I think whoever started the fire, developer or whatever, needs to pay to offset their relative arson. This fire was not on the scale of the random family that burns down their own home for fireworks or Christmas house lighting. Taxes are high enough, they don’t need a new line item for the developers that elect to burn the forestation lots they cleared as opposed to hauling that timber away. Kinda takes away the excuse that there’s a shortage of timber for pine wood for the building supply corporations ? Cut a tree down, use the wood by having it processed by a lumber mill (Rayonier) ? Waste nothing, isn’t that sustainable & responsible ? Instead they burn it for empty calories for global warming & pollution ? How much of that wood could be used to replenish lumber stockpiles to build all of this approved, unaffordable & inflation housing ? How much of it can go towards the next Amazon product shipping & packaging ?
Atwp says
Jimbo don’t forget about Trumps fire. Thousands of people were fired under his poor loosing leadership. You blame Newsom for California, we all blame Trump for the whole country. Trump is a looser. To change the comment, Thank God, the fire is getting under control. Thank God for the workers. No property lost. Thank God Trump wasn’t in control of the force, the county would burn to the ground, not the county but the state, and probably the whole country. Anything Trump get involved in becomes a big mess, The Kennedy Center, the capital remodeling.
JimboXYZ says
Let’s hope Gavin Newsom never becomes POTUS ? Can you imagine a Governor that had no water to fight the LA & San Diego Fires. And if the fraud & abuse going on in MN is any idication of the leadership Walz would’ve been for a Harris -Walz continuation of Biden-Harris, we all dodged that miserable another 4 years. All Trump-Vance is doing is clawing back the fraud & abuse of 2021-2025 Biden-Harris that went on, wasn’t reigned in before the dollar amounts got this big. And those that are committing it, they aren’t giving it up easily. All the inflation of the last 5 years. that’s all Biden-Harris. Do you actually think anyone is better off for 4 years of that that you & I know. I’m sure the one’s that were feeding off the Govt. teet are. They’d never complain, nit until someone discovers & cuts off their source of ill gotten revenue & income streams. I’m just kinda more surprised that you don’t have a problem with someone in MN getting paid millions for a Day Care Center that never had a single child enrolled ? How is that Affordable Day Care under Biden-Harris. Take Federal Program Money for children’s day care, children better be in those facilities.