Firefighters monitor ‘stubborn’ brush fire in Boca Raton

By Steve King

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    BOCA RATON, Florida (WPBF) — Firefighters in Boca Raton are working to extinguish a brush fire that scorched at least 10 acres north of Clint Moore Road. Palm Beach County Fire Rescue officials describe this fire, which has reignited multiple times, as “stubborn.”

The fire is called the Congress Fire since it’s close to Congress Avenue. It has consumed 35 acres, including five acres on Sunday.

The city of Boca Raton says the fire reignited at least three times since Thursday, including once on Sunday.

There are no current threats to residents.

Boca Raton Fire Rescue Services Department leaders say the brushfire that began Thursday morning was under control as of 7:30 a.m. on Friday. During controlled burns, one of the fires in those controlled burns “jumped the fire line” before 3 p.m. Friday. The fire was under control as of Friday night but reignited on Sunday before being 100% contained again.

Crews are currently conducting the controlled burns in the area of the brushfire to use up nearby fuel to prevent a possible rekindling from spreading the flames. Fire crews with multiple agencies are also working to put out any remaining hot spots.

The fire has caused large flames and smoke to billow into the air. Smoke can be smelled for miles depending on the location.

Boca Raton Fire Rescue was able to clear the scene Saturday, but Palm Beach County Fire Rescue and the Florida Forest Service remained on scene as of Saturday evening to put out hot spots.

The fire rekindled on Sunday afternoon and was 100% contained shortly after.

The brushfire began at about 5 a.m. Thursday north of Clint Moore Road, west of Interstate 95. It was put out later that day, before reigniting for the first time on Thursday after 5 p.m.

There’s still no word on what caused this brush fire.

At no point were any homes threatened, and no one was hurt.

“It is under control,” said Boca Raton Fire Rescue Services Department Deputy Fire Chief Jamie Smith. “There are no threats to any homes, and we have a tremendous amount of dedicated resources here to make sure one, hopefully, it doesn’t rekindle, but if it does, we’re ready to get on top of it and limit it. But most of all, I would tell them, if you don’t need to be in the area right now while it’s smoky, don’t come to the area and for people who have respiratory conditions, if you don’t need to be outside, stay inside and stay out of the smoke as much as you can.”

“There’s no need to be worried,” said Boca Raton Fire Rescue Services Department Deputy Fire Chief Jamie Smith. “The situation is under control. This is just the nature of the beast when you were dealing with wildfires, the wind and such as we are dealing with now, understand the possibility of having a controlled burn jump and do this is- that’s why we had units on scene. That’s why we had people acting quickly to put these out and we will get them under control.”

Congress Avenue has been open since Thursday when it was partially and fully closed at times.

The El Rio Trail and its access points were closed at various times on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

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