Lake City, Fla. – Authorities briefly reopened two highways crossing northern Florida into Georgia on Sunday before dense wildfire smoke forced them to again halt traffic, while hundreds of Florida residents waited to return to their threatened homes.
Officials said the wildfire that raced through the Okefenokee Swamp in southeastern Georgia and into Florida had charred more than 233,700 acres – about 365 square miles – since it was started by lightning a week ago.
Authorities reopened 90 miles of Interstates 75 and 10 for a couple of hours Sunday morning after wind helped push the heavy smoke away from the highways. But they were later forced to close 35 miles of I-75 from the Florida-Georgia state line to Lake City as well as a 40- mile stretch of I-10 in Florida, from Live Oak to Sanderson.
A 15-mile stretch of I-75 from Valdosta, Ga., to the Florida state line remained open Sunday.
About 570 residents were not allowed to return to 150 homes evacuated between I-10 and the Florida-Georgia state line.
Elsewhere, a blaze feeding on drought-stricken forest in northern Minnesota was only 15 percent contained as of Sunday.
The fire had closed about half of the 57-mile-long Gunflint Trail, a key route from Grand Marais into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area wilderness that is dotted with resorts and lake homes.
Officials said Sunday the fire had destroyed 133 buildings, including 61 residences.
Off the coast of Southern California, continued cool weather Sunday helped firefighters on Santa Catalina Island maintain control of a blaze that had threatened the resort town of Avalon.
