Prescribed burn near KSC expected to reach 6,000 acres

MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. – Rivers Edge Fire behind Kennedy Space Center expected to reach 6,000 acres, fire officials say

A strategic brush fire at the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge is causing a distraction for those near Kennedy Space Center. Firefighters are burning the area surrounding the area of a lightning fire, called the Rivers Edge Fire, which started Saturday.

The brush fire is expected to reach around 6,000 acres before it burns out, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Fire Management tweeted.

Video taken by Timothy Kelley, and obtained by News 6 showed massive smoke billowing for miles around the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. The smoke plume was picked up by local radar.

“Fire out here at the Kennedy Space Center makes the sky look like night," Kelley wrote on Twitter.

The massive blaze was seen as a backdrop to NASA’s well-known Vehicle Assembly Building, but was not affecting operations at the space center, officials said.

Other employees around the Space Center were also sharing images on social media of the smoke which was often shifting directions with the wind.

All information regarding the fire will come from U.S. Fish and Wildlife, KSC officials said.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Fire management officials said on Twitter Monday evening that some residual smoke might be present Tuesday, but that most of the fire should be out by Monday night.