Brush fire contained in North Fort Myers, cause under investigation

Firefighters responded to a brush fire in North Forth Myers near the intersection of US-41 and Business 41 Wednesday.

As of 8 p.m., the fire was 100% contained. It was an 8-acre burn at one point, but no evacuations were ordered.

Still, nearby neighbors had their concerns.

“The flames were shooting up over top of those trees, and it’s scaring the hell out of me,” Gail Mann said. “I’m just hoping it doesn’t come this way.”

Firefighters told us the wind changed direction after the fire started, blowing it away from nearby homes. No one was forced to evacuate, but many told us they had a bag ready to go.

“A gentleman came knocking on my door and let me know that there was a fire in the woods, to get prepared for it if we got the hose and start hosing things down,” Mann said. “Otherwise, I would have never known about it.”

Within hours, firefighters had the fire contained. They say no one was hurt, and no homes or buildings were damaged.

“It’s extremely dry,” said Christi Kulwicki, a public information officer for the fire district. “We’re right in the middle of brush fire season. We haven’t had a bad brush fire yet, and here it is.”

Neighbors told us they see people go into the woods frequently.

“We see people even drive in there,” Marlene Westberg said. “We don’t know what they’re, you know, we obviously haven’t gone back there.”

But firefighters will not speculate what the cause is until after they investigate.

“We have to wait for it to cool and then we’ll begin the investigation,” Kulwicki said. “However, brush fires are usually happen because of human activity.”

North Fort Myers Fire Control & Rescue Service District confirms crews planned to remain at the scene for quite a while to ensure it doesn’t spark back up again.

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