Grass fire breaks out at Wild Azalea Solar Energy Center in Florida

What happened

A grass fire broke out at the Wild Azalea Solar Energy Center, a Florida Power & Light solar site in Gadsden County, Florida, on the evening of 24 June 2025. A Florida Forest Service Aviation Unit aircraft spotted the blaze at about 5pm and guided ground crews to the location, which was off Atwater Road and not visible to firefighters until they gained access to the property. Mount Pleasant Volunteer Fire Department, the City of Chattahoochee Fire Department, Gretna Fire Rescue Department and the Sycamore Volunteer Fire Department all responded. The fire was extinguished the same evening. No injuries, equipment damage or evacuation were reported in the available account.

Contributing factors

The fire was located well off the access road and was not visible to ground-based firefighters until aerial spotting directed them to the site, delaying initial access.

Lessons learned

1. A grass fire at a remote solar array can stay hidden from ground crews, so early aerial spotting is needed to cut response time.
2. Mutual aid from several fire departments speeds arrival at a large rural solar site when one crew alone would be too slow.
3. Access roads must reach every part of a solar site, otherwise crews lose time finding a fire that is not visible from the main route.

Not yet known

• Cause of the grass fire
• Model and age of solar equipment
• Cost of response and any lost output

This entry is updated when these are reported. Get an alert for the next one like it.

Source

wctv.tv