Firefighting crews continue to fight a wildfire that has burned approximately 125 acres the past two days.
The fire, reportedly ignited Sunday afternoon and was still consuming acreage into Monday afternoon, burning through dry, arid areas of the Osceola National Forest. The fire has led to roadways closing with more closures possible.
Authorities are closing Williams Street, which leads to the Osceola Gun Range, as crews continue to battle the blaze and plans also call for officials to close Watertown Lake to the public as helicopters continue to dip water from the site to fight the fire.
Officials have not yet released the cause of the fire.
U.S. Forest Service crews, along with aid from Columbia County Fire Rescue and Florida Forest Service, fought the blaze Sunday and Monday.
According to a CCFR release, the U.S. Forest Service is utilizing Watertown Lake as a water source for both ground and aerial firefighting operations, which resulted in extreme congestion in and around the area, as the U.S. Forest service is utilizing planes as well as helicopters as its personnel battle the blaze.
On Monday afternoon, a tanker, which was led by a smaller scout aircraft, dropped fire retardant on the blaze. Also, helicopters, which had water buckets attached, were dumping water which they siphoned from Watertown Lake onto the flames.
By late Monday afternoon, a pair of helicopters were making repeated trips to Watertown Lake for water and dropping the water on hot spots in the area every 5-10 minutes. The buckets can hold roughly 600 gallons of water.
A collection of vehicles had amassed in the parking lot at the lake with most vehicles belonging to the U.S. Forest Service. While the helicopters used their buckets to dip into the lake and collect water, U.S. Forest Service trucks took turns on the lake’s boat ramp and also siphoned additional water for their vehicles.
There were at least 15 people in the parking lot, just watching or using their telephones to record the helicopters getting water or peering at U.S. Forest Service crews getting water from the lake for their trucks during the firefighting effort.