News4JAX reporter Briana Brownlee<\/a> and photojournalist Jesse Hanson the fire\u2019s rapid spread turned an ordinary evening into a tense wait.<\/p>\n\u201cMonday evening around 5:30 is when things got interesting,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was burning east of our property, and by the next morning, it got more aggressive \u2014 burning right up to our property line.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fire he watched is now part of what officials are calling the Railroad Fire, a blaze that formed after two wildfires merged near the Clay\u2013Putnam county line. As of the latest update, the fire has burned about 4,112 acres and is about 50% contained, according to the Florida Forest Service.<\/p>\n
Voluntary evacuation advisories remain in place in both Clay and Putnam counties.<\/p>\n
In Clay County, that includes areas near Varney Road and Woodward Lane south of Green Cove Springs.<\/p>\n
One neighbor told News4AX that he and his family wre taking turns staying up at night to keep watch.<\/p>\n
\u201cSunday and Monday was a lot Ash and a lot of Amber, but these planes have helped a bunch,\u201d he said. \u201cJust trying to get the leaves away from the side of the house and just keeping sprinklers going. Keep everything watered down.\u201c<\/p>\n
In Putnam County, advisories are in place north of Bostwick, including along Guthrie Road, Boogerville Road, Hunter Road and White Tail Trail, where Darryl lives.<\/p>\n
Officials say the advisories are meant to give residents time to prepare and to ensure emergency crews have clear access to respond as conditions change.<\/p>\n
Emergency management leaders are urging residents in those areas to be ready to leave at a moment\u2019s notice, warning that voluntary evacuations could quickly become mandatory if the fire shifts.<\/p>\n
They are also encouraging people to prepare now by keeping gas tanks at least half full and having a plan in place ahead of time.<\/p>\n
The fire has been fueled by dry conditions and wind, and officials say it could continue burning for days or even weeks without significant rainfall.<\/p>\n
Even as the flames moved closer, Hunter said crews worked to protect homes in the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was scary, very scary. We had some moments there, we weren\u2019t sure our property was going to make it,\u201d Hunter said. \u201cLike I said, all of the hard work of the firefighters, they did an outstanding job. We just want to say thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, many residents remain in place but are closely watching conditions, knowing the situation could change quickly.<\/p>\n
Officials say the message is simple: be prepared, stay alert, and be ready to act if conditions worsen.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLAY COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 A growing wildfire near the Clay\u2013Putnam county line has left smoke lingering across nearby…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3487,502,116,118,117,5436,34927,106309],"class_list":{"0":"post-241767","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-clay-county","9":"tag-community","10":"tag-jacksonville","11":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","12":"tag-jacksonville-news","13":"tag-morning-show","14":"tag-putnam-county","15":"tag-railroad-fire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}