Emergency management crews have lifted evacuation orders in Collier County. This comes shortly after a 5,531 acre brush fire grew to 7,034 acres and is contained at 50%.
An aerial infrared imagery taken today above the #30thAveFire shows the fire is now 7,034 acres and remains 50% contained.
— Caloosahatchee FC (@FFS_cafc) April 23, 2017
Good news! Emergency Management officials have lifted all evacuation orders related to fire in Collier County. #30thAveFire pic.twitter.com/xIc33iMMhc
— CollierCountySheriff (@CollierSheriff) April 23, 2017
Officials say recent showers provided relief to fire crews working on the large brush fire.
“While the rain certainly is welcome, this is not event ending,” said John Kern, Incident Commander for the Green Team, a Florida Forest Service Interagency Incident Management team. “We’re going to take advantage of the weather from yesterday and today’s forecast and secure our lines while the fire activity is moderate.”
Residents are allowed to return to their homes but are advised to be cautious when entering the fire area.
Over 7,000 homes were evacuated during the fire that began on Thursday afternoon. At this time, Florida Power and Light is working to restore power to several homes in the area. If residents have questions about the outages, please call 1-800-468-8243
#30thAveFire is now up to 50% containment as firefighters were able to attack the fire more aggressively thanks to recent rains
— Caloosahatchee FC (@FFS_cafc) April 23, 2017
