ORMOND BEACH, Fla. -- They called in firefighters from across the country. Airplanes have dropped thousands of gallons of water from overhead. Some have prayed, others have fled.

And still, it was the elements that prevailed: Fire and rain turned ,, out to be more powerful than man and ministrations.

The monthlong outbreak of wildfires that have plagued Florida and are burning most intensely in Volusia County on the state's eastern coast continued unabated yesterday despite an afternoon storm that produced too little rain to extinguish all the flames but enough wind to spread them.

Earlier in the day, officials ordered a subdivision on the northern edge of the county evacuated as fires approached the 147 homes there. Surrounded by some of the largest fires that have burned about 55,000 acres of the county, residents packed what they could in their cars and left their homes behind. Several neighbors, though, refused to go, and last night those who left were told they could return.

A red-eyed Fred Griffin stood on the porch of the ranch house he and his son built with their own hands five years ago. "It was looking pretty bad out, and I was getting scared," he said. "I just started praying, and it wasn't five minutes before it started raining. I started to cry when I saw it."

Although most of his neighbors joined the evacuation, they understood the reluctance that kept Griffin on his porch.

"It's hard to walk away from your house," Bob Bendlin said as he led his three dogs into his car and waved goodbye to his wife, Eileen, and 10-year-old son, Bobby, who drove off in another vehicle.

"My best belongings just left in that car. This," he said, pointing to his Tudor-style house, "can be replaced."

Dry woods quick to burn

Bendlin retired after 25 years as a firefighter in New Jersey and moved to Florida for the quiet, lushly green area where many neighbors keep horses and the surrounding woods are largely undeveloped.

But those very woods present the area's biggest danger: A record drought has left the piney forests extremely dry and combustible. Wildfires continue to flare and spread, filling the air with thick smoke that has sent those with respiratory problems to hospitals and forced the closure of roads as visibility plummets in the worst areas.

Firefighters can't even reach some of the worst fires because the woods are so dense they are impassable by truck. Infrared devices have been used to scan from overhead for hot spots that might be doused by tanker airplanes. Most of the firefighting efforts have been directed at protecting the residential areas -- bulldozers were brought in to cut 50-foot-wide swaths around developments such as Plantation Pines, for example, to break the fire's path.

But the only real solution is sustained rain -- and lots of it, officials say. While forecasts call for more rain this week, Florida's weather is notoriously hard to predict.

"Most disasters, there's a beginning and end. This one just keeps going on," said George Thune, a spokesman with the Federal Emergency Management Agency who has been monitoring the Volusia County fires.

President Clinton has declared the entire state a disaster area. Since they began on Memorial Day, the fires have burned more than 155,000 acres. Every county but Monroe, which covers the Florida Keys, has been struck, although the northern part of the state, from the Panhandle in the west to the Atlantic Coast on the east, has suffered the most severe effects. Farms have lost more than $100 million in crops like corn, hay, soybeans and cotton because of the drought.

Planes, tankers, bulldozers

Volusia County has come to resemble a state under siege: Overhead, planes fly low, shuttling between tankers of water and the fires they seek to douse. Huge yellow bulldozers rumble by, leveling underbrush before it can ignite.

Humvees and fire trucks hurtle back and forth, carrying firefighters and others to one fire, then another, and then another. Hundreds of firefighters from elsewhere, as well as forestry and National Guard personnel, have traveled to help, bringing much-needed engines, airplanes and equipment. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources sent about 16 firefighters, supervisors and mechanics -- as well as five pieces of equipment -- to the area Wednesday.

And still it's not enough. Fires continue to flare, some right next to highways or even on their medians. Smoke will turn from light to dense with a sudden shift in the wind.

Until the rain began yesterday, officials had hoped to literally fight fire with fire. A helicopter stood waiting at a local airport with a crew trained to drop hundreds of pingpong-sized balls filled with an incendiary mix of chemicals. The balls would start a line of small, hot fires on the perimeter of the existing fires, burning areas that might otherwise feed the larger fires. While specially trained crews from other states stood ready to launch the attack, the rain and wind prevented them from taking off yesterday. Officials hoped to try again today.

Smoke threatens lives

Smoke has been the biggest problem for those who don't live right next to the wooded areas near the largest fires. Those with respiratory problems have been advised to stay indoors and restrict physical activity, but even that hasn't helped everyone.

Kerri Kehrli, who recently moved to the area from south Florida, had been staying indoors since the smoke settled over the area, but her asthma was still acting up. This week, she went to a Red Cross shelter at a nearby YMCA, where she was resting comfortably until a door opened to let in a pizza deliverer. Smoke blew inside, and she could feel her chest tighten.

"I was so scared, I thought I was going to die," Kehrli said.

Her boyfriend tried to help her to relax. Although she tried using her inhaler, she couldn't catch her breath. Red Cross volunteers called for an ambulance and she was taken to a hospital emergency room. Medical personnel were able to stabilize her and she was released.

A girl from New Smyrna Beach, however, died this week after an asthma attack while playing outdoors.

Fires become inevitable

State officials are investigating whether arsonists have set small fires recently that have added to the problem. And they've enacted a ban on the private purchase and use of fireworks to help prevent accidental fires.

But some believe such grave fire situations as this one are inevitable in Florida given the state's recent development.

In 1985, a similar drought led to fires that ravaged northeastern Florida. The fires were so fierce and the destruction so extensive that videotapes of the rampage are still used to train firefighters.

But people returned to the ravaged areas, and built even further into the woods. And, as the current emergency shows, the fires returned too.

"We used to be able to do more controlled burns. That would help cut down on the brush and remove the fuel for fires," said Tim Elder, a supervisor with the Florida Division of Forestry. "But over the past 10 years, a lot more subdivisions are creeping into the wooded areas. So you can't do as many controlled burnings when there are houses right there."

From wet to drought

It is a common story in Florida, the uneasy coexistence of man and nature. When the conflict comes to a head as it did yesterday in the Plantation Pines subdivision, it's apparent which one will have to surrender, at least for this round.

"Two months ago, we were underwater," Peggy Hogan said of spring flooding. "I never thought I'd complain about no rain."

She and her husband, Bart McLean, were among the last to remain in their neighborhood as sheriff's deputies continued to urge residents to evacuate.

"We've talked about it so much," she said of the quandary between staying and leaving, "I thought I've cried all I could."

And then she started to cry a little more. Eventually, she and Bart drove away.

Pub Date: 6/26/98