BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. -- More than 2,000 acres were charred by a wildfire burning west of Titusville in the St. Johns National Wildlife Refuge, northwest of the SR-50 and I-95 interchange. By mid-morning Tuesday, SR-50 was reopened.

Firefighters feared the blaze could jump State Road 50 and burn south.

Before dusk Monday night, the smoke was so thick it crowded out the setting sun. The late afternoon winds picked up the flames and tightened the tension at the Great Outdoors resort.

"You have to eat, sleep and go on about your daily work," said resident Richard Butler.

Butler wondered if their only access road would be blocked by fire, firefighters or both. In fact, it was, so authorities were forced to shut down a part of I-95 to give the 3,000 people who live at Great Outdoors an emergency exit.

The fire and road closures just compounded the chaos for thousands of holiday travelers trying to get home in the Memorial Day rush.

State Road 50 was shut down almost all day, as firefighters in helicopters and brush trucks tried to keep the flames from jumping the road. If the flames do jump the road, there may be no stopping them.

"South of us it goes all the way to the Beeline, so you could have thousands of acres involved, much more than what we're dealing with now," said Steve Johnson, Brevard County Fire Rescue.