Wildfires Burn Dozens Of Homes In Central Florida (where my house is we can spell it

BSO Fire Rescue Has Dispatched A Strike Team To Head North

Governor Charlie Crist Has Declared A State Of Emergency

At Least 51 Home Have Been Damaged By The Fires

DAYTONA BEACH (CBS4) ―

Dozens of homes in Brevard and Volusia Counties have been burning because of the brushfires that have been burning through all of Monday.

Despite countless missions flown by helicopters dropping loads of water on the fires, and residents using any means necessary--such as buckets of pool water--the intensity of the fires has been too much, and has started to claim property. Evacuations have been widespread throughout both counties. 51 homes in the Malabar and Palm Bay areas have been reported so far.

Dry, windy weather fueled several wildfires on Florida's central Atlantic coast Monday, driving hundreds of residents from their homes and making Governor Charlie Crist declare a state of emergency for the state.

Helicopters dropped water on a fire that had burned about 3,500 acres in the area, including Daytona Beach.

Police ordered more 500 homes in the northwest part of the city to be evacuated. Officials did warn that embers could fly more than a mile from the blaze, causing damage to areas that otherwise wouldn't be burning.

A 5-mile stretch of LPGA Boulevard through Daytona Beach was shut down because the fire was too close to the road, but late Monday night and early Tuesday morning, officials shut down an eight mile stretch of US1 and I-95 in the area.

Evacuations have been widespread throughout both counties. 51 homes in the Malabar and Palm Bay areas have been reported so far.Dry, windy weather fueled several wildfires on Florida's central Atlantic coast Monday, driving hundreds of residents from their homes and making Governor Charlie Crist declare a state of emergency for the state.

Ray Ademski, a 68-year-old retiree, left his home with his wife and their important papers when he saw columns of smoke Sunday night around the subdivision. He hosed down the roof and turned on the sprinklers in his yard before the couple left for a hotel.

"I could feel the heat from both sides," said Ademski, who returned by bicycle Monday to survey the damage. "The smoke was going straight into my eyes. It was terrible."

By Monday, the skyline was free of the thick smoke that filled it the previous night, but Ademski and firefighters were wary of flare-ups in the smoldering embers.

"The weather conditions are ripe for extreme fire behavior," Weller explained. "What we're looking at is fairly typical for this time of year in Florida, coming into the end of the dry season."

No injuries have been reported so far.

Butch Vanfleet, 59, tried to contain the massive fire with a garden hose before the flames engulfed his home in Malabar. He said he built the house in 1980, and his 26-year-old son and wife were inside Sunday evening when the fire came to their doorstep. All that stood Monday was the chimney and a stone wall.

Vanfleet said he will rebuild. "It's devastation," he said. "All you see is nothing but ash in between the palm trees and the palmetto. There's no grass. The fire just came so quickly, we barely got out of there."

Messages left for a Brevard County Fire and Rescue spokesman were not immediately returned.

One person may be responsible for the Brevard County blaze, said Ernie Dieble, an arson investigator with the Palm Bay Police Department.

An eyewitness saw someone in a car drop something into an open field, and the fire started shortly afterward, he said.

Firefighters also contained two smaller blazes near Cocoa that damaged four homes and two commercial structures, officials said.

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