Dozens of Firefighters Respond to High Springs House Fire

HIGH SPRINGS – Fire crews from multiple agencies worked for hours Sunday night to extinguish a blaze that tore through an abandoned home in a rural area of High Springs, after initial 911 callers reported an outdoor fire but were unable to provide its exact location.

High Springs firefighters were dispatched at 7:33 p.m. to the area of Northwest 230^th Street and Northwest 189^th Avenue. Crews reached the scene within five minutes and cut through a locked gate to access the property, where they found smoke and flames coming from a large structure. The discovery prompted an immediate upgrade to a full residential structure fire response.

Because the incident was first reported as an outdoor fire, High Springs firefighters arrived in a brush truck, which offered a smaller profile and 4-wheel-drive capability that allowed them to begin attacking the flames quickly.

The fire involved an abandoned home of nearly 4,100 square feet and presented several obstacles due to overgrowth and the building’s condition. High Springs Public Works assisted by using a tractor to clear a route for a ladder truck to access the property safely and helped remove portions of the structure to support extinguishment efforts.

More than two dozen firefighters from High Springs, Alachua County and Newberry responded. High Springs Police and Duke Energy also assisted at the scene.

No injuries were reported, and firefighters contained the blaze to the building of origin. The fire was declared fully extinguished at 1:05 a.m. Monday. The cause remains under investigation by the Florida State Fire Marshal’s Office.

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