Florida Crews Build Water Pipeline to Douse 2 Blazes

Firefighters were building a 3,000-foot water pipeline in hopes of dousing a pair of wildfires that have scorched 10,500 acres of central Florida swamp.

The fires forced the closure of a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 4 earlier this week. Fire officials expect to have the pipeline and sprinkler system installed by Sunday and the road open as early as Monday, at least for daylight hours.

“Normally, we’d take some time and let it burn itself out some, but in this situation we can’t allow that,” said Wayne Jones, a forestry division spokesman.

Neither fire gained ground Friday, and the main 10,000-acre blaze was 85% contained. An illegal trash fire was blamed for starting the blaze, and a 46-year-old man faces charges.

Gov. Jeb Bush, saying Florida is in a state of emergency, issued an executive order late Friday that allows state agencies, such as the National Guard and the Division of Forestry, to better coordinate their efforts.

Earlier, state and federal emergency management officials met in Washington to discuss the crisis.

“We know we have a drought and we know that we’re going to have more fires and we also have some severe ground-water issues that we’re going to have to confront,” Bush said.