A massive wildfire continues to burn in Lake County.

State Road 44 has been closed once again due to smoke in the area. It's expected to remain closed through the night.

The fire started around 4 p.m. Saturday at SR 44 and Royal Trails, which is located several miles northeast of Eustis. 

Since then, it's grown to 800 acres with 40 percent containment.

Fire officials say conditions have worsened due to a shift in winds.

Judith Tear with the Florida Forest Service says crews are trying to keep the fire away from homes, which are not being evacuated at the moment.

"With the hot dry air and the wind shift the fire picked up a little bit," Tear said. "We had som control line in and we have contingency control lines. So it spotted over those original control lines, but it's holding within the contingency lines."

Dennis Cernohorsky has been living in the Royals Trails community for three years. He loves living away from the city. "Just a very country-ish area," he said. "A lot of bear, a lot of deer, just real nice."

But being close to nature has its drawbacks. Cernohorsky had to evacuate his home Saturday due to the brush fire. On Sunday, he decided to prepare a little better.

"I was pretty vigilant in cleaning out the yard, brining in the gutters and things around the house," he said. "Making sure that all the stuff that could get burned was away from the house."

Lake County Fire Rescue and the Florida Forest Service are currently fighting the fire with five dozers, four engines, five brush trucks and three helicopters. 

The blaze knocked out power to hundreds of homes and some of those people are still without power.

Firefighters were able to save 20 homes and a fish farm. 

“I came up front to see if I could do anything, but the firefighters were working hard. They stopped it from getting to any homes,” said Tom Mitchell, resident.   

Florida Forest Service said a shed was destroyed, but no homes were damaged. 

So far no injuries to firefighters or people living in this area have been reported. 

Several personnel will be stationed overnight monitoring the fire.  

Bus service limited for Lake County schools

State Road 44 in the area of Royal Trails and Pine Lakes will remain closed on Monday. The closure will affected areas south of Aster to 44-A.  

Lake County Schools says there will be no bus transportation on Monday for students living in that area.

Students at Umatilla Elementary, Umatilla Middle, Umatilla High and Eustis High will be affected.

Bus routes for Eustis Middle School and Seminole Springs Elementary School will aslo be affected.

Students unable to attend school because of transportation issues will have absences excused, school officals say.

For updates, visit the Lake County Schools website at lake.k12.fl.us.