Officials Determine Cause Of 70-Acre Escambia County Wildfire

May 10, 2018

The Weller Avenue Fire remains 100% contained at 70 acres and Florida Forest Service personnel have completed their investigation into what caused the Monday blaze that threatened 20 homes and required a major response from multiple jurisdictions.

There was little evidence remaining after the fire burned through a wooded area between the Berkshire Estates and Weatherstone subdivisions but what was left lead investigators to believe the fire was sparked by some type of human cause.

“We found a small, camp-type situation in there,” said Adam Parden, the Florida Forest Service’s Forest area supervisor for Escambia County. “Make-shift shelters, tarps and a small fire pit. We can’t tell if it was a kids’ fort or homeless camp or what but with what’s left, everything points to that as the origin and cause.”

Pinning down the cause of wildfires is notoriously difficult as evidence is destroyed by the fire and investigators have little to go on.

Weller Avenue was the 65th wildfire of 2018 for the Blackwater Forestry Center (Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties) and brought the total acres to 2,732.

Weller Avenue is located just off Gulf Beach Highway  in southwest Escambia County.

For additional photos, click here.

Photos  for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Additional photo gallery photos by Kristi Barbour and others for NorthEscambia.com.

Comments

One Response to “Officials Determine Cause Of 70-Acre Escambia County Wildfire”

  1. Legend on May 10th, 2018 9:30 am

    We got lucky this time. Please educate the importance of putting your fire out to your kids, adults should already know this. Thanks for all the hard work first responders great job.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News