Lives Charred By Florida Fires

Hundreds of Florida residents returned to their homes Monday after weekend wildfires consumed thousands of acres of brushland and dozens of homes and businesses over the weekend.

CBS News Correspondent Lee Cowan calls the area "a smoldering moonscape" and, he says, the fires struck with no rhyme, no reason and, when they hit, no mercy."

Firefighters in six central and northeastern counties kept a watchful eye on hot spots, worried that high winds could carry smoldering embers to underbrush parched by a week-long heat wave that broke the 100 degree Fahrenheit mark in many parts of the state.

When Cindy Hawkins returned to her neighborhood after weekend brush and forest fires swept through central Florida, she expected the worst.

Her Seminole Woods home was on the list of buildings that the Salvation Army said had burned to the ground.

But as she walked past a moonscape of burned pine trees that still glowed and smoked, Hawkins, 34, caught a glimpse of her home.

"Oh, God!" she screamed as she started running. "It's still standing."

On three sides of Hawkins' home, the woods and neighbors' homes were charred. A water sprinkler her husband had put on the roof had saved the family home.

By early Monday, all the flames were out in the Seminole Woods subdivision, said Ray Aguiar of the Flagler County sheriff's office.

A fire still burned Monday morning in Seminole County, but its advance had been halted. "We've contained it, but it's not fully under control yet." said Mike Ertel, emergency services spokesman.

The fires erupted Saturday, feeding on forests parched by weeks of drought. Hundreds of people fled to emergency shelters and about a 30-mile stretch of Interstate 95 was shut down for hours during the night, backing up traffic on the state's main north-south route.

Most of the damage was in Flagler and Seminole counties in east-central Florida. Homes also were damaged in St. Johns County, and fires swept through Duval, Lake, and Brevard counties.

At least 50 buildings were destroyed, including 20 homes in Flagler County, which includes Palm Coast and nearby Bunnell, and 15 homes in Seminole County, officials said.

A bullet's spark ignited underbrush at the Doughnut Lake Hunting Camp shooting range, burning 1,700 acres near Palm Coast. About 1,200 acres burned in Seminole County, where authorities suspect arson as the cause.

Some residents returned Sunday to find nothing left.

"I'm in total shock," said Mimi Davis, as she went through the burned rubble of her parents' Palm Coast house. "It is crazy. It is like being in a movie."

Her father, Justo Urquiza, collapsed outside the neighborhood gate when he learned his house had burned. He was hospitalized in stable condition, she said.

No deaths were reported from the fires, considered the worst in Florida in at least 13 yearsBut two people were treated for burns and two firefighters for exhaustion, and several more people, like Urquiza, were treated for chest pains and stress after learning their homes were destroyed.

Mike Ortel, spokesman for the Seminole County Public Safety Department, said everyone reported missing had been accounted for by Monday.