Seminole County residents
are overjoyed that a wildfire near Oviedo didn’t destroy their homes. Meanwhile, more wildfires ignite throughout the region.
Gaynor Brock-Edgar only had a moment’s notice that her family of five was being forced to evacuate their Willow Drop Way home in Oviedo on Saturday evening.
She only had time to round up her family of five and their pair of dogs, and also grab a box of baby videos and photos. Outside, flames as high as 50 feet barreled down their property at the southern-most point of the block.
As the evening played out, she was convinced their home was no more. “When I saw photos of it [on Facebook] … I thought the house was gone,” Brock-Edgar said. “It was just amazing.”
Ultimately the fire scorched 165 acres, but not the home. By early Sunday afternoon, it was 90 percent contained as crews worked to reinforce their containment lines.
Despite the harrowing social media images of flames towering over their roof, the BrockEdgar family home was spared, with only minor roof damage from the ash that rained down from the inferno.
The fire sparked up around 3 p.m. Saturday in a wooded area near County Road 419 in Seminole County.
It forced the evacuation of about 40 homes in the expansive Live Oaks Reserve subdivision, but perhaps no block had a closer encounter than Willow Drop Way — a winding street lined by single-family homes, bookended to the south by the Brock-Edgar’s property.
The family built the home in 2008, and until Saturday, it was surrounded by lush woods.