The odds are better than picking all six Powerball numbers — but still pretty slim.

Of the 8,000 or so job-hunters that flooded tiny Indiantown last month with hopes of landing work building a solar-power plant, about 50 to 100 could get offers in July.

That’s when Lauren Engineers & Constructors — the contractor overseeing construction of Florida Power & Light Co.’s solar-thermal plant — expects to need the first batch of employees, mostly concrete helpers and finishers. (more…)

INDIANTOWN - Three new fires have been reported in western Martin County where between 2,000 acres and 3,000 acres have burned since Sunday.

The three new fires - making it a total of 16 fires - were small and two were quickly extinguished, said Melissa Yunas, a spokeswoman for the state Division of Forestry.

No homes are being threatened, Yunas said. One of the fires destroyed two homes in Indiantown and damaged several others, she said.

Three children, ages 7, 8 and 10, were arrested earlier this week for allegedly setting at least one of the larger fires near Indiantown. The children were charged with a third-degree felony and released to their parents.

INDIANTOWN — If ranchers had been permitted three years ago to conduct a controlled burn on lands involved in the fires that began around this rural community Sunday, there might have been less damage for Indianwood residents, a rancher said after the big fire.

But some Indianwood residents opposed the controlled burn. That figured in the decision not to conduct the burn, along with the large amount of trees blown down by the 2004 and 2005 hurricanes.

Terry Wilkes leases land owned by the Post family for his cattle to the east of the golf course community, and normally burned off range and scrub lands every two to three years. The Post family are long-time managers and owners of the Indiantown Company, which provides many municipal type services in the unincorporated area. (more…)

INDIANTOWN — Thirteen fires still are burning in western Martin County, but none threaten homes and all are contained, forestry officials said today.

The fires, which destroyed two houses and damaged others, have burned through an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 acres in or near Indiantown and Palm City. The fires started on Mother’s Day and are expected to continue burning for about a week.

Three children, ages 7, 8 and 10, were arrested Wednesday for allegedly starting one of the larger fires in Indiantown. All three were released to their parents. More information about their arrests is expected today from the state Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement.

INDIANTOWN — Three children, ages 7, 8 and 10, were arrested for allegedly starting a fire on Mother’s Day that has since destroyed two homes and threatened many others, the state Agriculture and Consumer Services Commission Charles Bronson announced Wednesday.

The children, whose names were not released, face charges of intentional burning of lands, a third-degree felony. All three were released to their parents.

The juveniles started the fire in a wooded area near Palm Beach Road and 173rd St. S.W. in Indiantown by striking matches and throwing them into grass and palmettos, according to a statement released by the commissioner’s office. (more…)

INDIANTOWN — Firefighters already contained a 1 acre flare-up today, even after 4 inches of rain fell overnight.

Officials say years of hurricane debris is keeping a fire near the Booker Park Community, and firefighters are focusing on extinguishing all smoldering vegetation as brush fires burn for a fourth day. Several firebreaks are inaccessible for crews in the Indian Wood Community, causing problems containing the Indian Trail Fire, according to a Division of Forestry release this morning.

As the rain helps, it also brings lightning that can spark new fires.

For firefighters, the “witching hour” comes not at midnight, but at midday, with the threat of dark magic buried deep in the ground.

The temperature rises, the humidity drops and a seemingly subdued fire can burst with surprising strength, sparked from burning muck.

Residents of Indianwood, a mobile home community in Indiantown for ages 55 and up, got a taste of that phenomenon firsthand this week, as embers suddenly blew across a nearly dry canal bed and shot flames up vines and through palmettos. Two houses were lost, another was saved only by a rapid change in wind, and people were injured as they fled the rapidly moving fire.

“People were running for their lives, really,” said Mel Smith, a retired firefighter who has lived in Indianwood for 17 years. “At one time you couldn’t see 10 feet with the smoke and the flames.”

Wildfires burned through nearly 3,000 acres in three days in western Martin County, fire and forestry officials said. Much of the fire was in and around Indiantown, with other blazes in Palm City near the Martin County landfill. By mid-morning Tuesday, there were at least 10 fires, authorities said. (more…)

See more photos of the brush fire

By CARA FITZPATRICK and JASON SCHULTZ

Palm Beach Post Staff Writers


Climbing up vines and jumping canals, 10 separate fires have burnt through about 2,000 acres in three days in Martin County. Storms dropped four inches of rain on the flames, but did little to quench the wildfire danger in the county, officials said tonight.


The fires, most of which are in western Martin County in or near Indiantown, destroyed two homes and threatened many more, causing the evacuation of some residents Monday, authorities said.

Red Cross spokesman Sam Yates said two people showed up at the shelter in Stuart Monday night and the shelter will not be open tonight.

(more…)

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.
(more…)

A deputy from the Martin County Sheriff’s office was hospitalized Monday after a single-car crash on Kanner Highway, authorities said.

Deputy Rebecca Brady, 39, was responding to the Indiantown area at about 4:50 p.m. Monday when she crashed on Kanner at Groveside Drive, according to the sheriff’s office.

She was transported to St. Mary’s Medical Center with what is believed to be non-life threatening injuries.

Deputies, who still are investigating the crash, believe bad weather may been a factor.

Brady has worked for the sheriff’s office for about five years. She is assigned to the uniform patrol division.

INDIANTOWN — An inmate was stabbed to death today in the recreational yard at Martin Correctional Institution, authorities said.

The stabbing occurred at about 9:30 a.m., said Jo Ellyn Rackleff, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Corrections. The inmate has not been identified because next of kin is still being notified, she said. No weapon has been identified.

A criminal investigation is underway, she said.