INDIANTOWN — Wildfires had consumed more than 2,000 acres in Martin County by Tuesday morning, and firefighters were working to contain the fires that were burning for a third day, officials said.

There were as many as 10 fires that firefighters had to contend with late Monday and overnight, according to Melissa Yunas, spokeswoman for the state Division of Forestry.

Three single-engine air tankers were called in late Monday to battle the main fire that threatened the Indianwood mobile home community, according to Melissa Yunas, spokeswoman for the state Division of Forestry.

Officials on Monday evacuated residents from Divot Drive, the southernmost road in Indianwood.

Two people stayed overnight in the American Red Cross Shelter set up at 2750 S.W. Kanner Highway.

Those residents have since left and Red Cross officials have closed the closer, said Rob Shelt, disaster services director.

Shelt said power is off to the Indianwood area, but the community is mostly seasonal residents. Only 40 percent of the homes are occupied, he said. Many residents found accommodations with friends or family or stayed in their homes.

Shelt said since Sunday, the Red Cross has served more than 500 meals to fire rescue workers.

A fire close to the Martin County Landfill near Palm City was 80 percent contained by Tuesday morning, Yunas said.

In Indiantown on Monday, one house was destroyed and one damaged in the fires that began Sunday and blazed on into Monday, fire officials said Monday evening.

The fires had been mostly contained Monday morning before they began to blaze again around 2 p.m.

Thomas Motzer, who lives on Divot Drive in Indianwood, said the fire appeared to be dying down in mid-afternoon, but about 3 p.m. “my living room lit up orange. I looked out my back window and there were 50-foot flames. It was so hot it was unbelievable.”

Motzer, who lives outside the evacuated area, said he put out a fire that was starting to burn his house.

“The lucky thing was that I just got an extension for that garden hose a week ago,” he said. “Or it wouldn’t have reached.”

Motzer said a drainage pond behind his house and others nearby saved them from the flames.

“If not for that water break,” he said, “we’d all be gone. We were lucky.”

Two people were slightly burned in the fires and are being treated at Martin Memorial South. Several mobile homes in Indianwood have damaged siding from the heat.

Ron and Carolyn Carr were told to leave their home on Divot Drive in Indianwood at 5 p.m. Monday but were allowed to return two hours later.

“It’s been very scary,” Carolyn Carr said. “We’ve gone through hurricanes but fire is worse. With hurricanes you have a week to get out. The firemen came up and said, ‘You’ve got to go. Don’t dilly-dally.’”

As of Monday evening, there were two large fires still burning — there were four fires on Sunday. The Lincoln Park fire has burned about 700 acres. The Indian Trail fire has burned more than 700 and threatened the Holy Cross Catholic Church, New Hope Rural School and the Indianwood community.

Another Indiantown area fire began burning Monday evening. As of 8 p.m., it was up to 15 acres and growing larger. It is south of the Okeechobee Waterway. Fire crews from Palm Beach County are fighting the blaze, which has been named the Bob White fire.

The 100-acre blaze east of the Martin County Landfill near Palm City is on farm land owned by the Kiplinger family, which publishes several national financial newsletters and magazines such as Kiplinger Personal Finance.

Martin County fire officials called in off-duty fire personnel and all reserve personnel.

Fire Rescue spokesman Jon Belding estimated there were about 120 Martin County personnel working on the fire Monday night. There also were firefighters from Palm Beach, Okeechobee and St. Lucie counties. Melissa Yunas of the Florida Division of Forestry said 60 personnel from the forest service were on duty.

Belding and Yunas said their resource are stretched extremely thin.

Division of Forestry officials also were battling four wildfires in Palm Beach County.

To handle command of the fires, officials activated the emergency operations centers in Stuart and Indiantown.

Belding said there is no rain forecast for Tuesday for Indiantown and it has been two or three weeks since the it last rained in western Martin County. It rained in eastern Martin County briefly on Monday, but there was no rain in Indiantown, only lightning strikes.

In addition on Monday, lightning sparked three small brush fires in Port St. Lucie. Those fires are out.

FIRE TIMELINE

Sunday

1:34 p.m.: The first fire breaks out near Booker Park, west of State Road 710.

2 p.m.: The first fire is contained

4 p.m.: The second fire, also to the west of S.R. 710, started around 4 p.m. in Lincoln Park, south of Booker Park. That fire at one point threatened the Bechtel Power Plant but was stopped by Martin County firefighters.

Sunday evening: Four fires were burning in Indiantown. The Lincoln Park and Booker Park fires were caused by lightning strikes, officials said.

Sunday night: By later Sunday and early Monday morning, the fires were mostly contained and under control.

Monday

Monday morning: The fires were mostly contained throughout the morning except the Lincoln Park fire.

2 p.m.: The Indian Trail fire near Indianwood re-ignites north of Indiantown northwest of State Road 710.

5 p.m.: Fire officials begin to evacuate residents on Divot Drive in Indianwood.

8 p.m.: A fifth fire begins south of the Okeechobee Waterway.

By Joe Crankshaw
Staff writers Will Greenlee, Mike Canan and Matt Prichard contributed to this report.

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