Florida Forrest Service and Port Saint Lucie Fire and Rescue worked to contain a wildfire as it inched closer to homes on Bella Road in the Southbend neighborhood, Thursday.
Port Saint Lucie Police evacuated 40 homes as the fire continued to grow.
"Thirty seconds is what the cops told me because it was at that point directly across the street of my home," Amanda Lecanu said.
Lecanu was on her way home from the hospital when she got the call. She says her mother had just gotten out of surgery. What was already a difficult day quickly got a lot worse.
"Lots of smoke, a lot of inhalation of smoke when I was running to my home to get to my animals it was all I could do to breathe because the smoke was so heavy to get into my house," she recalled.
This is the view at Bella Rd and Eagle Drive in PSL.. right now voluntary evacuations are taking place pic.twitter.com/ib7eIEFQjw
— Sabirah (@sabirahrayford) March 29, 2018
A few homes down the road, Todd Davis was taking extra precautions to keep his property safe.
"I watched it jump across the street and all of a sudden it started moving this way with the wind and that's when it got serious," he said.
Davis kept spraying his property with water, other residents went as far as putting a sprinkler on the roof.
All eyes were on the large clouds of smoke, many people waiting, hoping to return to their homes.
"There's nothing you can do. All you can do is hold onto your family tight, pray and just ask god to just put it in his hands," Lecanu said.
Crews continued to monitor the area overnight. Residents on Bella Road returned to their homes, Thursday night. Florida's Turnpike was reopened early Friday morning.