Florida Forest Service responds to small wildfire in White City
The Florida Forest Service and local fire departments responded to a small wildfire in the White City area on Friday night, as well as three smaller fires that started as when heavy winds blew embers to surrounding areas.
According to Matt Herring, the director of Gulf County Emergency Management, all of the fires have been extinguished at this time.
“There was a small wildfire yesterday in White City,” he said Saturday morning. “The wind blew embers that started three additional fires.”
“The men and women of our fire departments arrived quickly, and with help from FFS, all fires have been extinguished.”
The wildfire occurred near Sealy Drive and burned about 2 acreas before it was contained.
Two of the resulting fires included a fire near Road 20 that buned 0.1 acres and a fire off of West Beatty Avenue that burned 0 acres.
Information about the fourth fire has not yet been reported by FFS.
At this time, the cause of the fire is unknown.
Residents in the area reported seeing emergency vehicles and helicopters in the area Friday night via social media.
The Star will update this report as more information is made available.
Meet the Editor
Wendy Weitzel, The Star’s digital editor, joined the news outlet in August 2021, as a reporter covering primarily Gulf County.
Prior to then, she interned for Oklahoma-based news wire service Gaylord News and for Oklahoma City-based online newspaper NonDoc.com during her four years at the University of Oklahoma, from which she graduated in May with degrees in online journalism and political science.
While at OU, Weitzel was selected as Carnegie-Knight News21 Investigative Fellow among 30 top journalism students from around the country. She also was senior editor managing a 12-person newsroom in coordination with Oklahoma Watch, a non-profit news organization in eastern Oklahoma.