Published on Tuesday, May 9, 2006
in the WESH News

Smoke From Brush Fires Gets Worse

COCOA, Fla. -- The smoke around Brevard County is getting worse, not better, even though the brush fire stayed within its lines Monday.

Interstate 95 gets socked in every morning because smoke continues to come up from the earth, combining with the sudden appearance of fog in the morning.

Firefighters are doing all they can, going from one stump to the next, digging and dousing, but there is far more smoke than they can keep up with.

Sunday, a sudden mix of fog and smoke led to a disastrous, fiery crash that killed two truck drivers.

"This is a learning experience for us," Lt. Pat ONeill of the Florida Highway Patrol said.

O'Neill said one thing troopers are learning is that visibility can drop to zero in an instant.

When the air gets cool enough overnight, it reaches its dew point. Fog appears out of thin air, seemingly coming from nowhere.

When the fog combines with smoke and haze already in the air, it forms a soup so thick drivers cannot see vehicles ahead of them.

"It's instantaneous," O'Neill said.

However, it is not just the roads that are a problem.

Smoke covered the landscape from Titusville to Indialantic.

Some people limited their outdoor activity. Others sought medical care. And just about everyone complained about the smell.

"Now, the Highway Patrol is closing the roads before the fog appears," Ludie Ehlers of the Florida Division of Forestry said.

O'Neill said the roads will be closed until further notice.

One idea fire chiefs talked about for smoky areas is drilling wells.

Artesian wells could flood the area with inches of water, perhaps the only way to put out something of this nature.