More than 400 acres have burned in Hancock Co. as crews continue to fight fires

An ongoing developing story happening in Hancock County as crews are busy battling a woods fire.

Just across Highway 90 in Hancock County, fire crews and first responders are battling the forest fire that has burnt over 400 acres. As of Thursday, officials say the fire is about 40 percent contained as wetlands and high winds make containing the fire difficult.

Hancock County Sheriff’s Department says the fire began a week ago, but yesterday evening it began to threaten the department headquarters. Sheriff Ricky Adam said, “As the wind changes direction, it picks up or dies down and as of yesterday evening the wind really picked up, and it got fairly close to the facility. But the ember is on the roof. That was a major concern for us so we kept teams on a roof. ”

Kevin Craft with the Mississippi Forestry Commission said, “Pretty much everywhere on the fire, the fire surface is wet, so we just had to be really careful everywhere that we go and everywhere that we do trying to stop the progression of this fire. And what we’re doing right now is something called an indirect action where we’re getting out in front of the fire a little so we can back burn off of it and take away all the fuel from the fire. ”

Authorities are currently unsure of what caused the fire as crews from the Mississippi Forestry Commission and other area fire departments are out fighting the fires. Officials ask drivers to use caution when driving in the area.