FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. — In Flagler County, emergency workers say a 250-acre brush fire has been contained after breaking out Thursday near County Road 305.

Flagler County Fire Rescue Marshal Jerry Smith said the suspected cause of the fire is a piece of machinery breaking down on private property.

Officials say no one was injured in the fire and no one had to be evacuated.

What You Need To Know

  • Officials say a 250-acre brush fire in Flagler County has been contained
  • As the event unfolded, people in the area said it brought to mind the 1998 wildfires
  • Flagler County’s burn ban expires on Tuesday, April 29

Flagler County, as well as a handful of other counties in the area, has put burn bans in effect due to ongoing dry weather conditions.

The brush fire may be contained now, but that’s not the only thing on the minds of people in the area.

People are actively thinking about the 1998 wildfires.  

Smith said he can’t believe how much time has passed.

“All of these pictures that I have here are from the 1998 wildfires, and they were taken by the crews who were actually working,” Smith said.

Flagler County leaders said that during the fires in 1998, 71 homes were destroyed and another 175 were damaged.

It was the first time in U.S. history that an entire county had to be evacuated because of a wildfire.

Just by looking at these pictures, Smith was transported back in time.

“That’s actually my engine right there from back in the day, that’s engine four from Station 41,” Smith said. 

He said the scope of the damage is still hard to imagine.

“I actually got told it’s already burning, there’s nothing you can do for it, go back to your assignment,” Smith said.

It was during that time that Smith graduated fire school.

While he put his new skills to the test, he couldn’t help but think of the people impacted.

“In an event like this, whenever a home is lost, you lose everything," Smith said. "There’s no getting any of that back, there’s no salvaging it. In 1998, it was strictly an all-volunteer service. With the exception of one paid fire department that was under the service district of Palm Coast."

As scary as the situation was, Smith said they had the resources to act quickly.

He wants people today to be mindful of burn bans, and to do their part to make sure something like this never happens again.

“We’ve got more resources, we’ve got better equipment, we have our own helicopter," Smith said. "We can put water on a fire anywhere inside this county within 10 minutes."

Flagler County’s burn ban expires on Tuesday, April 29.