"Hundreds Evacuated As Wildfires Rage In Florida Panhandle"

"MILTON, Fla. — All day it had been sunny. Then it grew dark as the winds began to whip. Daniel Felder stepped out into the road to watch the acrid smoke billow toward him. Ash started raining from the sky like light snow drifting in twilight.

Then came the crackle of fire, and he knew it was time to run.

“Next thing you know, the fire was right there,” said Felder, 45, recounting the harrowing minutes Wednesday afternoon when a raging fire swept through his bucolic wooded neighborhood in Florida’s Panhandle.

Unable to flee, Felder and his landlord waded into a nearby pond until the fire passed."

Bobby Caina Calvan reports for the Associated Press May 7, 2020.