'Controlled Burn' in Florida Torches 36 Homes

Dozens of homes in Florida’s panhandle went up in flames when a controlled burn that was supposed to clear 480 acres spread across 800 acres, reports CBS News. Controlled burns are a forest management tool where a fire is deliberately set to prevent destructive wildfires. The fire—which was set on June 18 near Apalachicola by a private contractor hired by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission—eventually took 36 homes in the coastal community of Eastpoint. Florida is setting up a claims office and officials are offering up to $5,000 in the interim to pay for emergency living expenses, notes Fox News. Eastpoint resident Glenn Woodall lost everything. "The fire was in my backyard,” he told CBS, “so I found the puppy that was in the bedroom in there, I got it out, and I didn't have no time to get nothing." (More Florida Panhandle stories.)