JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Around this time 28 years ago, wildfires were popping up around northeast and central Florida. It would be the start of what is now called the 1998 firestorm.
Nearly 500,000 acres burned across the state, including thousands in Duval, Columbia, St. Johns, and Flagler counties. More than 300 homes were burned.
Ray Alfred had just moved to Jacksonville from Washington D.C. to become the chief of the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department. He called it “baptism by fire.”…