CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. — The Charlotte County Fire Department said the brush fire in Port Charlotte’s Gulf Cove neighborhood is 100 percent contained but they’ll be staying overnight to monitor hot spots.
While no one was hurt, multiple residents said the flames got very close to their houses, leading some to temporarily evacuate.
Neighbors tell Fox 4 community corespondent Stephen Pimpo just how close the flames got to their houses:
“I came around the back of the house and by the time I got to the front, everything was on fire here and I told my wife, ‘Get your purse, we might have to leave,’” said Gulf Cove resident George Lyons, adding that he and his wife were not among those who ended up leaving.
The Charlotte County Fire Department said they they got the call for the 12-acre brush fire at around 2:30 p.m. They say it started near El Salvador Road and Stone Street.
“You could see the fire, it was like two blocks over and within minutes, the wind picked up really bad and it started coming this way,” said Lyons, who lives on Montgomery Drive.
Charlotte County Fire Marshal Scott Morris said multiple other agencies were on-scene assisting, including The Florida Forest Service, Englewood Fire Department, North Port Fire and Rescue and the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office, who’s helicopter made over 50 water drops.
6:15 Update:
“The breeze today was really quite a bit and it made the fire move really fast,” said Morris. “And (having) as much brush as we had around here around the houses.”
Click here to see a live look at the fire:
The Florida Forest Service said seven buildings were threatened but the fire department said only one home had some minor damage. However, there were still hotspots popping up as late as 7 p.m. along with smoke that covered streets like Montgomery Drive.
Watch below to see viewer video from Kailyn Rivera:
Ken Wells says he and his family evacuated their home for a short time before coming back.
“You know, it’s been one natural disaster after another,” Wells said. “We’ve had hurricanes, we’ve had fires.”
The Charlotte County Fire Department said they did not issue official calls to evacuate.
Morris said that the smell of smoke could last for days in Gulf Cove. He also reiterated that all of Charlotte County remains under a burn ban.
