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FHP Reopens Coastal I-95 Stretch After Wildfire, Smoke

SCOTTSMOOR, Fla. (CBS4)- The Florida Highway Patrol reopened a 30-mile stretch of Interstate 95 on the state's central Atlantic coast Tuesday after the fast-moving wildfire caused the highway's shutdown.

FHP also urged motorists to use caution as a 10,000-acre fire could still cause heavy smoke.

All lanes of I-95 in Brevard were reopened, less than a day after wildfire had caused the highway's shutdown and the voluntary evacuation of residents in this sparsely populated area along the border of Brevard and Volusia counties.

Highway officials also reopened a section of U.S. Highway 1 that had been closed.

The blaze started Monday and quickly grew, jumping from Volusia County into Brevard County, about 25 miles north of the Kennedy Space Center and across the Intracoastal Waterway from Cape Canaveral. The wildfire had no impact on the space center, the site of last Thursday's launch of space shuttle Discovery, although it destroyed two hunting camps in Volusia County and a home in Brevard County.

It also closed a Brevard County elementary school Tuesday.

(© 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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