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May 15, 2008 9:12 am US/Eastern
Firefighters Gain Upperhand In Fl. Wildfires
Schools Reopen
Brian Crowder Expected In Court Thursday Afternoon
Expected To Be Charged With Setting A Small Fire
PALM BAY (AP) ―
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Smoke rises from central Florida land scorched by wildfires that started May 11, 2008 .
The Early Show/CBS
Firefighters hoped to make further major gains Thursday against a wildfire that has charred thousands of acres along Florida's Atlantic coast, as police questioned a man seen tossing a Molotov cocktail into nearby woods.
Schools that had been closed for two days reopened Thursday, electricity was being restored and many residents had already returned to the area where about 20 homes were destroyed and 140 structures damaged.
A total of 4,700 homes were still without power in surrounding Brevard County on Wednesday evening, after officials shut off electricity as a precaution. Fifteen people were in shelters.
Firefighters credited additional support and equipment for help containing the fires, which have burned about 15 square miles, 9,600 acres, in Palm Bay and neighboring Malabar.
"We got quite a bit of work done," Todd Schroeder, spokesman for the state's Division of Forestry, said Thursday. "There's been no more damage to homes or property."
Authorities questioned a man they arrested Wednesday. Police said Brian Crowder, 31, was expected to be charged with setting a small fire in the area of the larger blazes.
As he was being led in shackles by police early Thursday, Crowder told a horde of reporters he may have unintentionally started a small fire.
"I believe that I accidentally may have -- may have -- started by tossing a cigarette out the door," Crowder said.
He said he ran from police because he had violated probation, and was driving with no license. Crowder was scheduled to appear before a judge Thursday afternoon.
Palm Bay Police Chief Bill Berger said Crowder has denied being involved with the larger fires, which have caused millions of dollars in damage.
A resident alerted police after allegedly seeing Crowder throw an object from his car that sparked a small fire in the woods, Palm Bay Detective Ernie Diebel said. The object was a glass bottle containing an accelerant, Berger said.
Crowder was stopped a short time later and apprehended after fleeing from police. He was found hiding under a pile of leaves in nearby woods. Records show that he has drug, burglary and automobile theft convictions dating from 1996. He was charged Wednesday with six probation violations.
Elsewhere, scattered fires were still burning around the state Wednesday. A total of almost 26,000 acres, 40 square miles, were ablaze as of Wednesday evening, according to an emergency management report.
Aside from the fires in Palm Bay and nearby Malabar, the majority of the fires were in Glades County. In an area around Lake Okeechobee, roughly 11,000 acres had burned or were still burning, though no structures had been damaged.
A second wildfire on the Brighton Seminole Indian Reservation was burning about 1,000 acres, but winds had settled down and no structures were threatened late Wednesday.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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