Matt Lein could barely see his condo complex this weekend as thick smoke blanketed the area from a wildfire that raged just across the street.

“Well, it was pretty tough. More than anything, the breathing. The smoke has been horrendous. This fire has actually been going about four days,” said Lein.

The Florida Forest Service now says more than 450 acres have burned near the retirement community of Nalcrest. They initially believed it was only 350 acres, but say the fire was remapped by aircraft Monday and updated the number around 5:30 p.m.

The fire is more than 50 percent contained, but started in a remote area, making fighting the fire very difficult.

“It was a lightning strike that kind of smoldered for a while. It was difficult to get our equipment into and once we got our equipment into it, we put lines in around it,” said Todd Chilanda with the Florida Forest Service. “Due to the terrain, we were not able to get lines all the way around it because of some of the wet areas and some of the other terrain and we knew it was going to surface but we didn’t know where and when.” 

Chilanda says bulldozers, brush trucks, helicopters and fixed winged aircraft have all been used to fight the fire. Still, it managed to jump a road on Sunday and threatened several homes.

“Yesterday the fire jumped Dougherty Road and made a run towards the east. There were 8 homes on the north side of Leisure Lane and we evacuated them as a precaution because the fire was headed toward them,” said Chilanda.

Lein knows the one thing the area really needs is rain, although the smoke wasn’t as bad on Monday as it was all weekend at his home.

“We had some trade winds this morning that blew it out of here. And of course, the wind is shifting and coming out of the northeast and so we are going to get it this afternoon,” he said. “My fear is, it starts up again. That’s my fear and that’s what typically happens with these kinds of fires, they never really go out until we get a good rain.”