Wildfires close portions of Florida highways
With continuing wildfires causing accidents and prompting the Florida Highway Patrol to close highways in some locations, Gov. Jeb Bush Monday declared a state of emergency.
'We're a tinderbox right now,' Bush was quoted as saying in a report in the Orlando Sentinel. The governor announced he is deploying aviation units from the Florida National Guard to help fight wildfires. The fires are most intense in Central Florida, particularly along I-95 in Volusia and Brevard counties.
The Florida Highway Patrol said the haze from the fires will require the closure of portions I-95 every morning until further notice.
In Orange County, fires caused the temporary shutdown of the Central Florida Parkway late Monday afternoon from I-4 to International Drive.
The Sentinel report also said a brush fire in Hilsborough County forced the Highway Patrol to shut down more than four miles of I-75 south of Tampa Monday afternoon. In South Florida, two people were killed in traffic accidents caused by fog and smoke that shut down Monday a section of U.S. Highway 27 between South Bay, near Lake Okeechobee and I-75 in Broward County. There were 19 people injured in another smoke-and-fog crash just miles away, the report added.
Declaring a state of emergency gives Florida agencies fighting wildfires broader authority to seek help from the federal agencies and from other states.
Wildfires close portions of Florida highways
