{"id":242303,"date":"2026-04-22T20:30:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T20:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/242303\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T20:30:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T20:30:07","slug":"clay-putnam-wildfire-grows-slightly-as-smoke-blankets-northeast-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/242303\/","title":{"rendered":"Clay-Putnam wildfire grows slightly as smoke blankets Northeast Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

A growing and stubborn wildfire<\/a> along the Clay and Putnam County border has grown slightly from the day before but remains 55% contained.<\/p>\n

The so-called Railroad Fire began over the weekend as two separate blazes \u2014 one in Clay County off County Road 209, east of U.S. 17, and the other in Bostwick in Putnam County. The two fires merged early this week.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a news conference Wednesday in Green Cove Springs, Florida Forest Service incident commander David Seacrest said the fire grew from 4,112 acres to 4,186 overnight. Containment increased from 50% to 55%.<\/p>\n

Firefighters had eight tractor plows and an engine crew improving fire break lines \u2014 the cleared strips of land designed to stop the fire\u2019s spread.<\/p>\n

Airplanes and helicopters, including one from Flagler County, made 188 water drops. Right now, Seacrest said, the firefighting effort is \u201cin really good shape.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to build on our fire lines with heavy equipment,\u201d he said just after noon. \u201cWe are preparing for our evening winds. It has shown us that in the evenings, (wind) gets kind of sporty, so we are going to build on our fire lines and prepare for the evening weather. And yesterday, there were new starts in the surrounding areas \u2014 new fires in other counties, so we are now strategically sharing resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clay County Fire Rescue Chief Lorin Mock said his firefighters have joined others from Putnam County to battle the cross-border wildfire, which likely began with the spark from a passing train.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are primarily concerned about structure protection,\u201d Mock said. \u201cWe have been monitoring the fire lines along with our forestry partners to ensure that no structures are threatened. If we get spot fires near them, we are deploying assets immediately and we are going to remain in that posture for the immediate time frame.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"A water tanker bombards part of the Railroad Fire at the Clay and Putnam County line on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. | Clay County<\/p>\n

The Forest Service wildfire website<\/a> showed four active fires in Putnam County, including the Railroad Fire. A 50-acre fire is burning near Millican Road, just south of the Railroad Fire, listed as 70% contained on Wednesday afternoon. A 343-acre blaze off Pace Court in the west part of the county is 85% contained. A 256-acre fire near Florida 19 and the town of Rodman is 80% contained.<\/p>\n

No active wildfires are shown in Jacksonville or St. Johns County, but three are still burning just west of Hilliard in Nassau County. A 500-acre blaze near Conner-Nelson Road is 85% contained, as is a 100-acre fire north of Bay Road. A 1-acre fire west of U.S. 301 is almost totally contained, the website said.<\/p>\n

The state asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency for financial assistance, saying the fires threatened more than 1,500 homes plus businesses and infrastructure around Clay and Putnam counties. FEMA said it would reimburse Florida for up to 75% of its firefighting costs.<\/p>\n

Burn bans in effect<\/p>\n

Baker, Clay<\/a>, Nassau and Putnam counties<\/a> all have enacted burn bans in response to the continuing drought and elevated wildfire risk in Northeast Florida, which state and local officials predict could last another two months or more. And while burning is prohibited year-round<\/a> without a permit in Duval County, the fire department and city issued a total burn ban late Tuesday, meaning people could be charged with a misdemeanor for violations.<\/p>\n

The ban prohibits all bonfires and open burning in Duval County. Outdoor grilling is allowed if done safely, but the city advises people that a spark could cause a fire. .<\/p>\n

Mock asked all residents to \u201cobserve the burn ban.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve deployed a lot of assets in both Putnam and Clay counties in support of this,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is essential that we don\u2019t get new starts. The weather conditions are obviously pretty dicey. \u2026 There\u2019s no good reason to have an intentional fire start right now, and we are hoping our residents abide by that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clay County officials said that no new voluntary evacuations have been enacted aside from those along Varney Road and Woodard Lane.<\/p>\n

Smoke hazard<\/p>\n

The National Weather Service warns that the region will face a smoke hazard at least through the weekend. That means smoky conditions at night and early morning because the wind settles down then.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we go into the late morning, the winds begin to pick up,\u201d said Weather Service meteorologist Angie Enyedi. \u201cThat\u2019s when that smoke begins to lift and disperse. But by the time that occurs, it is when the fire activity could get sporty, as we\u2019ve heard, because the winds begin to increase and the atmosphere dries out.\u201d<\/p>\n

School district responses<\/p>\n

The Clay County school district said the fires have not affected operations or dismissal times. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have identified a small number of families affected by bus route changes or current conditions and are working directly with them. Absences for these identified students are excused,\u201d the district said in a statement. \u201cOur district is actively monitoring local air quality. As a precaution, our current recommendation is to keep students and staff indoors whenever possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Heavy smoke from the Railroad Fire in Clay and Putnam counties seeped into Duval County early Wednesday, April 22, 2026. The Mathews Bridge was difficult to see from the Hart Bridge. | Dan Scanlan, Jacksonville Today<\/p>\n

Clay, Nassau and Duval county school officials all said they are keeping in contact with government officials to monitor the fires and air quality to ensure the safety of students and staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll operations are being evaluated on a day-to-day basis as conditions may change,\u201d the Nassau district said. \u201cIf road closures occur, bus service will not be available in affected areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Clay, Nassau said it will excuse students who are absent due to fires. Families will be asked to provide a note to the school to document the absense.<\/p>\n

Road closures<\/p>\n

Smoke from the Railroad Fire was visible in parts of Duval County on Wednesday morning, but no roads were closed there or in Putnam or Clay counties, officials said. Law enforcement officials warn drivers to slow down and use low-beam headlights in smoky conditions.<\/p>\n

Clay County residents can sign up for the SaferWatch app<\/a> to get alerts from the Sheriff\u2019s Office, Clay County School District and other county agencies about wildfires, weather issues or other information.<\/p>\n

Megan Mallicoat from Jacksonville Today contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A growing and stubborn wildfire along the Clay and Putnam County border has grown slightly from the day…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3487,3753,525,116,118,117,99028,115,12022,34927,221,10782],"class_list":["post-242303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-clay-county","tag-climate","tag-drought","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jaxtdy1","tag-news","tag-public-services","tag-putnam-county","tag-weather","tag-wildfires"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242303","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=242303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}