While fire fighters battle a large brush fire in Lake County, a fish farmer is grateful to be able to get back home.

Smoke from the fire closed State Road 44 and other raods for several hours, but they are now back open this afternoon.

It is still very dangerous, especially for those who live and work here, like those here at this fish farm.

“The night before it burned over in the front area, and then yesterday it came through on the backside,” said Cheryl Pawlak of Blackwater Creek Koi Farms.

Pawlak says her business was surrounded by flames this weekend.

And her and her husband Joe have no ordinary business since they breed millions of koi and gold fish a year.

“It burned really close and we actually stood here and watched it to make sure we didn’t have any embers flying over this way to start anything else on fire,” Cheryl Pawlak said.

Flames were seen shooting 70 feet or so into the air from the extremely dry and windy conditions.

State Road 44, the road their business was on, was forced to shutdown because of smoke from the fire.

Dry and smoldering brush will continue to be a problem for firefighters until it rains.”

 

For the Pawlak family, not only do they work in the area, they also live here with their children.

But due to the fire, they had to evacuate at one point, however their animals had to be left behind.

“We knew most of the fish would probably be just fine, our ponds are deep enough six foot deep so the fish can go far enough down,” Pawlak explained.

However, none of Pawlak's structures was damaged.

The fire has burned close to 800 acres so far and it is still just 40 percent contained.

Humidity helped fire crews in Volusia County

Meanwhile, the rising humidity helped crews fight a brush fire in Volusia County.

The fire near Veterans Memorial Highway in Orange City is now 75 percent contained after it burned 350 acres.

There were no mandatory evacuations, but the flames got so bad that fire crews had to relocate for a short time on Saturday.

No structures are in danger at this time.