Police have been searching for an arsonist who started the wildfires that have destroyed at least 100 homes in Palm Bay and neighboring Malabar in the last three days. A witness saw someone in a car drop something into an open field, and the fire started shortly afterward, an arson investigator said.
''Some are caused by embers that are flying, but the locations of the fires indicated that these were initiated separately, which makes us firmly believe that an individual or individuals was involved in setting those,'' Palm Bay Police Chief Bill Berger told The Associated Press.
Gov. Charlie Crist declared a state of emergency in Florida as firefighters in Brevard County work for a third day trying to stop relentless wildfires that have scorched about 3,800 acres, or about 6 square miles, in the neighboring towns of Palm Bay and Malabar.
Jackie Rodriguez's family is one of many who returned to their homes Tuesday night, without electricity, for fear that looters may target their belongings--or worse, flames getting too close to their home again.
"For me, my mom bought her dream house, and she thought we were going to lose everything," said Jackie Rodriguez. "We left everything behind except for our pets and stuff, so we just thought it was going to go."
According to the Florida Division of Emergency Management, at least three firefighters have so far been injured.
Many houses are surrounded by ashes, twisted limbs and charred, slender tree trunks, but some residents managed to save their homes with buckets of water and garden hoses.
Rodriguez told CBS4 Michael Williams she is on fire watch, too. She moved to Palm Bay from Miami seven months ago with her parents. Firefighters kept her dream home from going up in smoke.
"One firefighter said he would try to save the homes," explained Rodriguez. "We ran out without clothes, just grabbed the birds and stuff."
"Everytime I turn around another house is on fire. We don't have enough resources on our own to do a job like this," added Palm Bay spokeswoman Yvonne Martinez.
Angel Pagan, a 35-year-old salesman, watched Tuesday as firefighters hosed down the smoldering woods surrounding his home. A night earlier, his neighbors used garden hoses and buckets of
water to douse the flames. "I cannot believe it -- my house was surrounded, and my house
did not go up," Pagan said. "It's pure luck, and God."
On Tuesday, the Palm Bay Fire Chief, Mike Couture, said that things are fairly well contained at the moment but there are still some concerns.
"As we have seen the wind is a factor in the afternoon as it begins to pick up. Obviously, the conditions are continuing to be dry and we desperately need rain," said Couture. We are just praying that nothing continues to happen and that we can contain those flare-ups."
All 18 schools in Palm Bay, including charter schools, are closed. Stretches of I-95 and U.S. 1 in Brevard County that had been closed due to smoke are open.
Just south of Palm Bay, a 3,000-acre blaze destroyed at least four homes in nearby Malabar, including the house Butch Vanfleet built in 1980, and tried in vain to protect with a garden hose. "It's devastation," he said. "All you see is nothing but ash in between the palm trees and the palmetto. There's no grass. The fire just came so quickly, we barely got out of there."
About 80 miles north in Daytona Beach, an 800-acre fire forced an evacuation order for about 500 homes, but residents were allowed to return Monday evening. No structures were reported damaged.
In Fort Lauderdale, firefighters with the Broward Fire Rescue are waiting to see if a call comes in to travel to help battle the wildfires in central Florida.
"We have extra chainsaws, water which should last us about one week to about a week, ten days or two weeks maybe, "explained Robert Ricciordi of BSFR to
CBS4 Ted Scouten
.
Hundreds of these firefighters have worked the state's blazes before, bulldozing highly flammable brush and vegetation and leaving behind less flammable dirt to keep the fires from advancing.
About 8,000 homes and businesses were without power Tuesday afternoon after electrical service was disconnected for firefighters' safety.
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