Orange County wildfire forces brief evacuation of residents

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Many residents across Central Florida are on edge following more brush fires and the extremely dry conditions.

Firefighters in Apopka had to briefly evacuate two homeowners Saturday afternoon when a brush fire got dangerously close to their residences.

The 3-acre fire along South Hawthorne Avenue near Clarcona Road was extinguished within 20 minutes, Orange County Fire Rescue said.

Crews with the Florida Forest Service have set up burn areas to make sure the fire doesn’t reignite.

Firefighters said the neighborhood is lucky the fire didn't spread past 3 acres.

"We have all these dry trees from the hurricanes. Fuel is just lying there. It's just waiting to take off,” Mark Smothers, battalion chief with Orange County Fire Rescue, said.

“It kind of spread quickly. They (firefighters) got down here and did what they had to do,” said neighbor James Griffin.

Firefighters said discarded tires made their job more difficult to fight the fire.

Cox Media Group