Permitted burn escapes control at Oak Hills Golf Course in Spring Hill

A permitted burn at Oak Hills Golf Course in Spring Hill escaped control Saturday afternoon, igniting a large brush pile at 10059 Northcliffe Blvd. and sending Hernando County Fire Rescue crews into a quick cleanup response.

HCFR said the fire started when a contractor conducting a Florida Forest Service burn with an Air Curtain Incinerator, or ACI, lost control of the burn area and the flames spread into nearby brush on the golf course property. Firefighters knocked down the spot fires before they could reach any structures, and officials reported no traffic impacts, even as smoke lingered in the area.

By Sunday morning, the fire was contained within 1 acre. HCFR and the Florida Forest Service kept monitoring the site for any new spot fires while crews continued cleaning up debris left behind by the burn.

The incident unfolded during an active fire season in Hernando County and came while an emergency burn ban remained in effect for all unincorporated areas of the county and the City of Brooksville. County officials said the ban, which took effect April 14, still allowed burning that is specifically permitted by the Florida Forest Service.

HCFR describes ACI burns as being conducted in dug pits with air-assist devices that accelerate burning at high temperatures while reducing smoke impacts. Even with that setup, Saturday’s escaped burn produced visible smoke and enough fire spread to require a response from local crews near one of Spring Hill’s busiest corridors.

The golf course fire also followed a separate Hernando Beach wildfire in late March that burned about 120 acres, forced mandatory evacuations and raised fresh concerns about dry conditions across the county. That earlier blaze recalled the Palm Sunday 2017 wildfire that threatened nearby businesses and First Baptist Church in Hernando Beach, underscoring how quickly fire can move through local brush and subdivisions when conditions line up.