Wildfires force officials to re-close roads

Story Highlights

• Smoke from area wildfires once again cuts visibility on roads
• Break in the weather gives firefighters time to clear brush away from homes
• Two wildfires in Georgia and Florida have consumed 554.8 square miles of land
• Georgia has 41 active wildfires; Florida has 218

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(CNN) -- Thick smoke from area wildfires forced officials to reclose stretches of I-75 and I-10 in northern Florida on Sunday.

"We urge everybody please to plan alternate routes, to make different travel plans and, if at all possible, to avoid traveling to this area," Maj. Rick Carpenter of the Florida Highway Patrol told reporters.

The roads were closed Saturday after low visibility caused a number of accidents. The highways were opened briefly Sunday morning, but re-closed after forecasters predicted heavy smoke returning to the driving area, according to Maj. Ernesto Duarte of the Florida Highway Patrol. (Watch how firefighters try to contain the flames )

The closures are expected to be in place "for at least the next couple of days," Duarte said.

He encouraged motorists to dial 511 to hear advisories and updates on traveling conditions.

A section of I-95 in Duval County, from Pecan Park to State Road A1A, was also closed due to smoke, as was a section of I-75 in Broward County, near fire-ravaged Collier County in southern Florida, according to the State Emergency Response Team.

A break in the weather Sunday gave firefighters in Georgia and Florida a chance to clear brush and widen fire lines in an attempt to gain control over a spate of wildfires, including the Bugaboo Fire, before Monday when winds are expected to pick up.

"Today is kind of time to nail things down a little better, move forward with securing lines around that big fire and be on the watch-out for any lightning from isolated storms," said Florida Division of Forestry Information Officer Jim Harrell.

Officials are concerned that wind from the east could push the fire toward Highway 441, about three miles away from the blaze's western border, he said. (Watch why a break in the weather helps firefighters but not motorists )

Officials fear wind gusts could pick up embers and carry them across fire lines, causing the fires to grow.

Twenty-three homes on the east side of the highway are under a mandatory evacuation order, and a voluntary evacuation order has been issued for homes on the western edge, he said.

The section of the fire in Georgia, called Bugaboo Scrub fire, has burned 131,718 acres, said Kris Eriksen, manager of the joint information center.

The blaze was started May 5 by a lightning strike on Bugaboo Island in Georgia's Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, she said.

As of noon Sunday, the Florida portion of the fire was 30 percent contained. There was no containment of the Georgia side because officials had not tried to stop it from burning in the refuge, but firefighters were building containment lines as it approached the edge of the refuge.

High winds in Georgia were expected to test the strength of those lines Monday, Eriksen said.

Weather helps firefighters in southern Georgia

Lower winds and cooler temperatures this weekend helped firefighters gain ground on another big fire south of Waycross, Georgia.

The Sweat Farm Road - Big Turnaround Fire was started by a downed power line nearly a month ago.

Nearly 1,100 firefighter and other officials are battling the blaze, which has grown to 121,355 acres, Eriksen said.

The portion of the fire around the Georgia Forestry land is 80 percent contained, and the portion creeping down the eastern edge of the Okefenokee Swamp is 45 percent contained, she said.

In total, the two big fires in Georgia and Florida have consumed 554.8 square miles, she said.

Georgia -- suffering from a lack of rain -- has 41 active wildfires on 267,136 acres, she said, and Florida's 218 active fires have burned 190,000 acres, according to Florida Division of Forestry spokesman Sonny Greene.

Smoke was expected to clear enough on Sunday that pilots would be able to resume battling the flames from above, with air tankers and heavy helicopters, before the weather turns, Greene said.

Officials expressed satisfaction with Saturday's cooler, moister weather, which allowed them to reopen major thoroughfares they had closed due to low visibility.

"God smiled on us last night," Carpenter said.

Thunderstorms forecast for Sunday afternoon could help by dumping water on the fires or could hurt their efforts if lightning strikes ignite new ones, said Tony Edwards, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

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