PANAMA CITY, Fla. - Huge wildfires in the Florida Panhandle forced veterans in a nursing home to evacuate Sunday alongside residents of more than 1,000 homes in an area still recovering from a Category 5 hurricane three years ago.Firefighters battled the 9,000-acre Bertha Swamp Road fire and the 841-acre (340-hectare) Adkins Avenue fire, which have threatened homes and forced residents of at least 1,100 houses in Bay County, Florida to flee over the weekend.
The Adkins Avenue fire destroyed two structures and damaged another 12 homes late Friday.Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called the larger Bertha Swamp Road fire "a big boy," at a news conference in Panama City on Sunday afternoon. "It’s moving very quickly."On Sunday, a third fire developed, forcing the evacuation of a 120-bed, state-operated nursing home in Panama City.
Public transit was being used to move the residents at the Clifford Chester Sims State Veterans’ Nursing Home. Buses also were on standby in case the 1,300 inmates at the nearby Bay County Jail needed to be evacuated to other facilities.RELATED: Bay Area firefighters head north to help battle Panhandle firesHurricane Michael in 2018 left behind 72 million tons of destroyed trees that have provided fuel for the Bay County wildfires, according to the Florida Forest Service.
The hurricane was directly responsible for 16 deaths and about $25 billion in damage in the U.S.Local authorities say they don’t know when residents will be able to return to their homes.