'Ash is just nonstop': Fire burning in Florida neighborhood for 2 months

FAVORETTA, Fla - For more than two months Flagler County residents have had a mulch pile burning near their homes and many homeowners say it's impacting their health.

Just after Thanksgiving, a mulch fire started burning in Favoretta, a neighborhood in Flagler County, and it hasn't stopped burning since.

"It smells like a constant campfire that you’re stuck in," said Don Wilson, a resident. "Seven days a week, week after week and it doesn’t stop."

"You don’t know from day to day if you can go outside and breathe or not," added another resident Rebecca Young.

The smoke is coming from the burning mulch pile at Arrow Materials, which is a company that collects brush to convert to mulch. Residents say the constant smoke is making them and their animals sick.

"It shortens your breath. Gives you the dry cough. You're constantly drinking water," said Wilson.

"Some of my hogs have respiratory issues," added Rod Rodriquez. "The ash is just nonstop," another resident explained. 

Flagler County Officials tell us the fire has gotten smaller. It started as one acre and is now 1/3 of an acre. The Flagler County Fire Chief said the property owner is working to make smaller, less dense piles to put it out safely.

"Not every fire is easy to extinguish, and we have to take care to ensure that we don’t make things worse," said Flagler County Fire Rescue Chief Mike Tucker. "We act as expeditiously as possible, but we have to consider public safety."

Residents would like the burn to stop sooner than later.

"If it was a short hitting, and had to deal with it for a couple of days – fine. But, 7-8 weeks later, and we still have multiple weeks to go until it’s burn out? Unacceptable," said Rodriquez.