Large Grass Fire Shuts Down Highway 97

January 17, 2014

Smoke from a large grass fire closed Highway 97 for about half an hour Friday afternoon.

The fire was mostly contained to grassland, a cow pasture and the roadside, but thick, white smoke dropped visibility along the highway to near zero near Hendricks Lane, south of Walnut Hill. There were no structures damaged, and no injuries reported.

The fire was initially estimated at about 10 acres.

The Molino, Walnut Hill and McDavid stations of Escambia Fire Rescue responded to the reported fire about 12:30 p.m. and continued to battle it into the afternoon.  The Florida Forest Service also responded to the blaze.

The roadway was partially reopened by 1:25 p.m.

Pictured top and left: Smoke closed Highway 97 Friday afternoon due to near zero visibility at times. Pictured below: Firefighters battle a large grass fire. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

Comments

2 Responses to “Large Grass Fire Shuts Down Highway 97”

  1. William on January 18th, 2014 10:02 am

    >>We have an Awesome fire department in Molino! The other ones are good too, but ours is all volunteer….Thank you for what you do!

    The Molino volunteers are great! But just so you know…so are McDavid and Walnut Hill. They are also all volunteer. Everyone fighting this fire yesterday was volunteer, except for Forestry.

  2. Jane on January 18th, 2014 8:38 am

    We have an Awesome fire department in Molino! The other ones are good too, but ours is all volunteer….Thank you for what you do!

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News