ST. CLOUD, Fla. – A bizarre balloon accident is being blamed for sparking a 275-acre brush fire near a neighborhood in St. Cloud.
Some of the residents contacted News 6, saying the smoke seemed unbearable.
“So down here, there’s a lot of smoke going on, a lot of fires,” said Chris Kinngard, a resident who showed News 6 some leftover burning bushes near his home off Narcoosee Road.
Subdivisions near Jones and Nova Roads were impacted. Florida Forest Service officials say the fire was ignited by a helium balloon that got tangled in a power line on Friday. Firefighters contained the fire after it continued burning over the weekend.
The fire is holding at 275 acres and is 100% contained. The Florida Forest Service says any smoke people are seeing is coming from inside the containment lines, and nothing is burning outside of them.
“Some of the amber and ash was about almost 30 feet tall. It was like just fire coming up. There’s a lot of smoke around a lot of the neighborhood. Basically, the whole Sunbrook neighborhood is covered in smoke,” Kinngard added.
Flames burned dangerously close to homes, although there were no reports of injuries or damage.
Osceola County Forest Area Supervisor David Palmer and his crews have been working to manage the situation. Despite the smoke and ash in the air, he assures residents that it is safe.
“This is day four, and it’s in a swamp. It’s up in smoke. It’s going to smoke for a few days now. And there’s nothing we can do about that, because we cannot access the base of the swamp,” Palmer explained to News 6.
While people in the area are safe, some residents remain worried.
“They’re a little stressed out because, you know, there’s a fire in the backyard, right? You know, but everything is, you know, everything’s under control,” Kinngard said.
