Agencies join to battle Crystal River brush fire

Citrus County firefighters today joined in Crystal River with the Division of Forestry and a fire crew from the city to put out a brush fire at 7892 W. Gulf to Lake Highway.

The county received a call at 11:57 a.m. that a one-acre brush fire in a heavily wooded area was burning unchecked behind several businesses in that area.

The first concern on scene was for fire units to protect the businesses on the south side of 44 near North Virginia Road. Once firefighters had enough units on scene to protect the commercial structures, fire units tried gaining access with brush trucks in to the woods to extinguish the fire; however, the woods were too thick with trees and brush to get units into the fire.

The Division of Forestry was called, and responded with a tractor and plow to put fire lines in around the fire. Before the fire was brought under control, it had grown to three acres in size. The fire was under control at  1:16 p.m.

The origin of the fire was undetermined, and is under investigation by the Division of Forestry.

There were no injuries or damage to structures.