- April 18, 2024
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A mulch fire that began burning off west State Road 100 near Deen Road in Bunnell on Sunday, March 12 has been contained.
The mulch fire — which was named the "White Fire" but has since been renamed to "NW Mulch Fire" — began burning at a local business just after 4 p.m. on Sunday and was approximately 3 acres in size.
Smoke from the wildfire has blown toward Palm Coast and U.S. 1 north of S.R. 100 throughout the day on March 13, according to a social media post from the Florida Forest Service in Bunnell.
Julie Allen, a Florida Forest Service wildfire mitigation specialist, said on Monday afternoon that the fire was 100% contained. The Florida Forest Service is working to determine the cause of the fire.
A press release from the city of Bunnell in the early evening of March 13 urged drives near the U.S. 1 and S.R. 100 intersection to drive cautiously because of low visibility in the area. Visibility is expected to deteriorate overnight as the smoke holds close to the ground, the press release said. If it worsens, the road may be closed until visibility improves.
Flagler County Fire Rescue worked with the Florida Forest Service to contain the fire. FireFlight dumped close to 20,000 gallons of water on the fire, according to a Flagler County Fire Rescue social media post.
Allen said the county’s FireFlight had to land because of multiple recreational drones flying in the area.
“It was a very dangerous situation for FireFlight,” she said. “It could have killed somebody.”
Allen said that any number of problems could have happened: The drones could have hit the helicopter or its propellers, or fallen onto the firefighters below, she said.
“That’s why we ask folks do not launch drones, especially while we have assets in the air,” Allen said. “When you’re talking about a wildfire and you’re talking about large equipment … it’s a very dangerous situation.”
FireFlight landed its operations until the drones were no longer a danger, Allen said. Because it was dark out and because most recreational drones do not have identifying information, Allen said, there was no way to know whom the drones belonged to.
