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I-4 Smoke Problem Lingers

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By NEIL JOHNSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 16, 2008

Updated: 01/16/2008 12:16 am

Expect closed traffic lanes on Interstate 4 until firefighters can extinguish smoldering hot spots that send smoke over the road every time wind blows from the north.

Crews from the Florida Division of Forestry are working their way through about 380 acres of dried swamp to put water on smoldering patches in a process that could drag on.

"We would love to have this done by the end of business today, but that's not going to happen without an inch of rain," Gerry LaCavera, a forestry wildfire mitigation specialist, said Tuesday.

Without a good soaking, LaCavera said, there's no telling how long the hot spots will smolder. The smoldering areas are concentrated on the north end of the burned area.

The Florida Highway Patrol closed westbound lanes of I-4 at about 3 a.m. Tuesday and eastbound lanes about four hours later along the same stretch of highway where 70 vehicles crashed last week, killing five and injuring 38.

Both lanes reopened about 8:30 a.m.

I-4 drivers might get a break, courtesy of the weather, the next couple of days.

Forecasters don't expect fog this morning, and it isn't likely Thursday morning, either.

The wind is forecast to blow from the north early this morning, which may send smoke over the interstate again. But later today the wind could shift to come from the southeast and south, away from the roadway, said Richard Rude, National Weather Service meteorologist.

Also, rain is expected tonight, and there is a 60 percent chance of rain Thursday. However, Rude said Polk County may see only a quarter-inch of rain.

The fire started Jan. 8 as a controlled burn of 10 acres. A plunge in humidity allowed the fire to surge out of control and grow to 400 acres.

The fire, about a mile north of I-4, was still burning the morning of Jan. 9, when drivers hit a stretch of road where visibility dropped to a few feet. State forestry officials are investigating whether smoke mixing with fog created the pall that blanketed the road.

Smoke provides tiny particles for water molecules in fog to cling to and create a mix that is thicker than either creates alone.

The Division of Forestry has 10 water-toting brush trucks and two of its heaviest bulldozers working to put out the last of the smoldering areas. The fire is contained and producing no flames.

The work is hampered by the rugged terrain. The area is an old swamp covered with cypress trees knocked flat by the hurricanes of 2004. The jumbled tangle of trees and stumps makes it difficult for the bulldozers to clear paths to reach the smoldering areas.

"The trees are piled like pick-up sticks," LaCavera said. "There's a definite safety issue."

As the dozers open a path, the trucks, which can carry up to 500 gallons of water each, spray the smoldering areas.

Tuesday morning, highway patrol cruisers swept through the stretch of I-4 every 15 minutes, Trooper Larry Coggins said.

Patrols will continue until the risk of smoke is eliminated.

Two troopers assigned to the interstate the night before the crash checked the road but found no smoke or fog.

"There was no smoke in the area when they checked," Coggins said. The troopers were working a call about 11 minutes away when the first of the series of collisions occurred shortly before 5 a.m.

Reporter Neil Johnson can be reached at (813) 259-7731 or njohnson@tampatrib.com.

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