Smoke, a basketball hoop and my motorcycle

Smoke from a brush fire to the north fills the sky over Melbourne.

Winter is a rather drab time in Florida for people who enjoy extremes, like myself. The weather is usually tranquil, with clear skies and little rain, throughout the season.

The one phenomenon that has been known to cause excitement/destruction is fire. The dry season here tends to culminate in the early spring with brush fires, such as the ones in 2008 that burned more than 30 homes here in Brevard County. But it seems to be getting an early start, as the area has seen little precipitation recently.

On Monday, a small brush fire in Rockledge brought smoke to the skies over the Space Coast. At sunset, while riding my motorcycle, I stopped behind the Melbourne Police Department to take a few shots. An old roadside basketball hoop provided something a little different for the scene. And strangely enough, green beads were strewn across the pavement, shimmering in the light from the setting sun.

Discarded green beads glimmer as the sun drops behind the trees. By this point, most of the smoke had quickly drifted to the east.

A shadowy shot.

A ridiculous amount of lens flare encircles my Harley-Davidson.

I don't usually include shots of myself, but here it is. For this photo, I used my helmet instead of a tripod by mounting my camera atop it, setting the delayed timer, then jumping onto my Sportster.

Photos | Space, wind and fire

In the Cocoa area Wednesday to get a tune-up on my new set of wheels, I noticed some billowing clouds to the north. When I got closer, I realized that the smoke from a brush fire and the clouds in the distance were combining for an interesting scene. At a boat ramp along the Indian River in Sharpes, I took some photos of the smoke from the controlled burn on the northern end of Kennedy Space Center.

Pileus - the horizontal, wispy clouds that often form over cumulonimbus clouds during strong updrafts - also appear over plumes from forest fires (as in this case) and volcano eruptions.

Smoke hangs low over the Indian River.

The forest managers apparently started another fire south of the first and closer to Kennedy Space Center. At the start of the blaze, a small amount of smoke appears just north of NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building.

The brush fire smoke and the smoke stacks at Florida Power & Light's plant between Cocoa and Titusville contrast sharply.

My last stop was at Kennedy Point Park in Titusville, where the wind was blowing the smoke quickly across the river and over the mainland.

A thick smoke shroud overhead is one of the few times a photographer can zoom in and photograph the sun without the aid of special filters and sunglasses.

Fire threatens homes in Viera, but firefighters come up big; the real casualty of the blaze? palm trees

Firefighters spray water at the fire, above, and at the trees on someone's lawn, below.

Update: My employer linked to my Floridatoday.com blog from the home page. The Offlede is going mainstream. Uh oh. They also made a photo gallery with my shots.


When I got out of work around 1 a.m., I heard that a fire had burned 60 acres in Viera. It sounded like a good photo op, so I set out to chase down some flashy lights and orange glows.

Driving along Murrell Road, I saw several TV crews doing pretty little standups with the orange sky silhouetting the homes in the distance. So I knew Murrell Road wasn't where the real action was. As usual, the TV guys were miles from the scene. They dared not get their feet wet.

So, I found my way to Starling Way, a little street in a large subdivision with expansive, expensive homes. The fire was burning the pines, palms and palmettos just feet from the buildings. Poor trees.

Then, I got my feet wet. A sprinkler came on as I walked by one house. It soaked my pants, my socks and my shoes.

But I didn't care. I snapped photos like crazy and forgot about it. The heat from the fire dried my clothes anyway.

A group of about 10 youngish-looking individuals were watching the flames behind the homes. Some said they live in the area. Others were the residents' friends who just came to watch a good show.

But apparently, someone forgot the marshmallows. Or do they just not do that here in Florida? Does anybody know about s'mores?

The firefighters stood around and watched as the flames shot 30 feet into the air. They occasionally soaked a tree on someone's lawn or the screening around several of the homes' covered patios. Luckily, the wind was blowing the fire away from the homes and into land that had already burned: It had nowhere to go.

The fire burned southward behind the homes lining Starling Way. It probably burned 400 yards in the few hours I was there.

When it reached a pond, the men stood between the blaze and the marshy area. They spritzed it a few times with their mighty hose. A large stand of palms and palmettos crackled into flames. It reminded me of that bonfire I went to a few years ago when the Red Sox won the World Series.

But that was all. Around 3:15 a.m., there were only small flames, and the firefighters were ready to ship out.

The owner of the house closest to where the fire stopped was grateful.

"I'm so glad it didn't go any farther," he said. "We have a beautiful view of the pond, and I wouldn't want the fire to ruin it."

"Thank you, guys," he said to the firefighters.

"Oh, no problem," one firefighter said. "That was easy."

I took 858 photos, or 1.73 gigabytes of disk space on my new Mac. Looks like an external hard drive is in my future. I'll post video later. I should get sleep first, though.

My first shot when I arrived. This is where I started to get my feet wet.

A couple of concerned residents near one of the more modest homes of the neighborhood. The flames were only feet away, but the wind was blowing them away from the homes.

People, including myself, got close enough to roast a few marshmallows. It was quite safe because of the wind.

One of the younger residents climbed onto his roof to snap a photo. He probably got better shots up there than I did on earth.

One of the less modest homes here. Just after I shot this, the flame flared up two houses down the street, threatening a house. These people scattered when that happened.

Firefighters hosed down the screens of this house's patio area.

Viera = hell?

Nope. Not hell. Firefighters don't go there. Viera, you're off the hook.

The fire brought together a bunch of teens from the neighborhood. Some good, clean Thursday night entertainment! I was talking with a homeowner in the area, and she asked what caused the fire. I didn't know, and then one of these guys said that teens had set the recent brush fires in Brevard County. He said he had no part in any of them, though.

I think the teens had more fun taking photos of the fire than I did. This one used his cell phone.

The burning carcass of a palm tree. RIP. ... Not.

This was the firefighters' last stand. Once this palm was dead, it was done. Good night.