UPDATE: 10 a.m. Pasco school district spokesperson Linda Cobbe says school officials will sit in on a conference call with forestry officials and decide whether any schools need to be closed tomorrow. Cobbe says the superintendent plans to notify parents the night before any school closures in future. She says there could be issues with classes near the Starkey fire for weeks, because of ongoing smoke.
PORT RICHEY, Fla. (970 WFLA) -- While firefighters are starting to get a handle on the Starkey wildfire, the smoke is so thick in places, it's forced the Pasco School District to close three schools.
Officials say smoke filled the campuses of River Ridge Middle and River Ridge High Schools, as well as Cypress Elementary, which is about two miles east of River Ridge High.
The Salvation Army is taking donations of certain supplies for the firefighters... including bottled water... at its location on Ridge Road about half a mile west of Little Road, in Port Richey.