Wildfire Safety and Preparedness

Florida's Limerock Fire Destroys 36 Homes (PHOTOS)

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This aerial photo shows smoke where a wildfire, still smoldering, ripped through the area consuming more than 20 homes in Eastpoint, Fla. Monday, June 25, 2018. (Joe Rondone/Tallahassee Democrat via AP)

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This aerial photo shows smoke where a wildfire, still smoldering, ripped through the area consuming more than 20 homes in Eastpoint, Fla. Monday, June 25, 2018. (Joe Rondone/Tallahassee Democrat via AP)

In the span of two days, the Limerock Wildfire, formerly called the Eastpoint fire, destroyed 36 homes and damaged more than 950 acres of land in Franklin County of Tallahassee, Fla. As of Monday, the Florida Forest Service said the fire was 95 percent contained.

The fast-moving fire began Sunday afternoon roughly 60 miles southwest of Tallahassee in the town of Eastpoint. “It was probably one of the most intense fires I’ve ever seen in my career, how quickly it moved and how quickly it destroyed homes,” Franklin County Sheriff A.J. Smith told the Tallahassee Democrat. Firefighters in Franklin County used 13 bulldozers and eight fire engines to subdue the raging fires. Officials have yet released any information on how the fire started.

In Eastpoint’s town of around 2,300, an estimated 125 people are now without homes. Over 175 people sought shelter at the Eastpoint Church of God while others escaped to a the Eastpoint fire station or a small motel.

With the short supply of housing in Franklin County, the county’s EOC Director Pam Brownell urged people to send donations to Franklin’s Promise Coalition for disaster relief. A Gofundme was also started to help support the displaced residents.

Though residents of the affected areas were allowed to return to check for belongings on Monday, many returned to a grim scene void of anything resembling their former homes.