[MilCom] Navy bomb misses Pinecastle by a mile, ignites wildfire

[Jack Nesmith]

OCALA NATIONAL FOREST - U.S. Forest Service firefighters mopped up a 
wildfire on Wednesday that ignited Tuesday when a bomb from a Navy jet 
landed a mile outside the Pinecastle Target Range.

According to a news release from Naval Air Station Jacksonville, an F-18 
fighter jet dropped a 500-pound laser-guided bomb that landed about a mile 
east of the bombing range.

The explosion ignited a forest fire that burned 257 acres near Forest 
Service Road 595, said Mike Drayton, a fire management officer with the U.S. 
Forest Service.

"We got a line around it Tuesday and have just been cleaning up," Drayton 
said. "Everything is contained."

The Florida Division of Forestry and the St. Johns River Water Management 
District helped contain the blaze. No one was hurt and no structures were 
threatened by the fire, Drayton said.

Navy officials are looking into what caused the bomb to fall off course. The 
live bomb landed east of the bombing range, about a mile west of Farles 
Prairie.

"That's what caused the fire to ignite," said N.A.S. Jax Public Affairs 
Officer Miriam Gallet.

Gallet said the bomb was dropped by a Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet from Strike 
Fighter Squadron 213, based out of N.A.S. Oceana in Virginia Beach, Va. She 
would not go into detail about how the bombing mechanism works.

"It's under investigation," she said Wednesday evening. "We're still trying 
to figure out what happened."

Gallet said Tuesday's accident marked the first time a Navy bomb has ever 
ignited a fire outside the Pinecastle Target Range. She added that there are 
restrictions based on weather and conditions, but the Forest Service was 
made aware of the exercise.

"We do exercises there year round, and we work closely with the Forest 
Service to coordinate the training," Gallet said. "The Forest Service did an 
outstanding job getting the fire under control."