- November 19, 2024
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UPDATED 1:05 p.m.
PALM COAST — A crew from the city of Palm Coast accidentally clipped a power line that was about 20 feet in the air with a back hoe in the late morning of Feb. 10, and the live wire caused a brush fire that killed power to the adjacent water plant and closed down Seminole Woods Boulevard from State Road 100 to Utah Place.
According to Flagler County Fire Chief Don Petito, the water plant had power supplied from a different source, so there shouldn’t be any interruption.
Overhead, it was plain to see: There were four wires cross Seminole Woods Boulevard from the west to the east. At the pole, only three continued east.
Deputy Dan LaVerne, of the Flagler County Sheriff's Office, was on the scene to direct traffic. "We were actually only a block away when we heard the transformer blew."
Will Raulerson, a forest area supervisor for the Florida Forestry Service, said crews are now burning out a section that he estimated to be less than 1.5 acres, to make sure the fire doesn’t get out of control.
Enormous plumes of smoke billowed over the street as a thick layer of underbrush caught fire. The street was empty because traffic was cut off other than a few residents who were allowed to return to their homes. No structures were threatened.
Raulerson had a torch with him, filled with a mixture of three parts diesel fuel and one part gasoline, which was used to burn the brush.
"This area probably ain't seen fire in 40 or 50 years," he said.
