Residents help crews contain Lehigh Acres brush fire

LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. An 11-acre brush fire sent residents scrambling to protect their homes before firefighters responded Sunday.

The fire ignited around 6 p.m. near West 16th Street and Rush Avenue, in the northwest part of Lehigh Acres near Harns Marsh, the Lee County Public Safety department said. It was 100 percent contained by shortly before 8 p.m., according to the Florida Fire Service.

Sally Hartley and her neighbors called 911 and left their homes to try to put out flames that popped up before emergency crews arrived, she said.

“My son called me and said, ‘Mom, there’s a fire!'” nearby resident Corey Leon said. “So immediately I looked outside and it was black, red, I mean you couldn’t even see.”

Hartley used a tractor to access the flames.

“I took the Kubota out there and started putting out some of the little runner fires over there around the corner of Rush,” she said.

Units from at least a dozen agencies worked the scene, according to the public safety department. Hartley praised the firefighters, calling the response “fabulous.”

It’s unclear if any homes were damaged. The cause of the fire is unclear, but an investigation is planned.

The forest service had earlier cleared brush near the fire as a preventative measure, and that helped them contain the blaze when it broke out.

#RushFire hit areas that @FFS_cafc roller chopped it slowed the forward movement & allowed 1st responders to quickly contain the #wildfire

— FFS Caloosahatchee (@FFS_cafc) April 16, 2017

WINK News viewers John Arnold and Lexie LaRiche posted video of the fire to Facebook: