The Newman Fire, which broke out in east Naples along the Picayune State Forest this week, was the third of four notable wildfires in the Western Everglades over the last six weeks.

The fourth, the Jetport Fire, broke out this weekend near the Alligator Alcatraz detention facility in eastern Collier County. A Florida Forest Service spokesman said it was just over 41 acres, 50 percent contained, and no threat to the controversial prison on Saturday.

While likely, it's impossible to say whether the foursome of blazes in or near the Big Cypress National Preserve would have happened in Southwest Florida so close to each other — in time and in distance — if not for the drought that’s locked onto Florida for more than a year.

What’s easier to attribute to the worst drought in Florida in 25 years is this: nearly 100,000 acres has burned across the Sunshine State so far this year. That’s just shy of 1,000 acres a day and far ahead of last year’s pace.

Florida’s wildland firefighters knew this was coming.

Nearly a dozen firefighting agencies gathering at the Naples Airport in January to prepare the public — and each other — for what appears to be in play now.

“We’re anticipating that we're going to see and early and more active than regular brush fire season in the upcoming year,” Chris Wolfe, chief of the Naples Fire District, said during the January event. “This is mostly due to the significant drought that we're experiencing.”

Wolfe got the “early” part right: Wildfires this year have burned 75 percent more acreage in Florida than at this point in 2025.

And it’s looking like he’s going to get the “more active” part correct, too: The heart of wildfire season in Florida begins now and typically peaks through July.

Newman Fire a near tragedy

Thanks to teamwork things are quiet on a Newman Fire that otherwise could have burned through homes in Collier County.

“Everybody’s monitoring the future weather conditions were going to have some shifting winds coming up this weekend,” Jesse Lavender, a Florida Forest Service spokesperson, said Friday. “It’s not really a concern but it’s a change so we have to be prepared.”

Until the next one, which ended up being the Jetport Fire that was first spotted Saturday.

The Newman Fire was first noticed on April 13, and within a few hours that Monday, it had grown to nearly 1,000 acres.

The Florida Forest Service and Greater Naples Fire Rescue were first on-scene and went to work with tractor-mounted rangers and brush trucks, everything they had.

They also called for help.

When dawn broke the next morning, the Newman Fire had grown to 1,500 acres and was barely contained.

Then more than 100 firefighters from various agencies arrived and hit the fire hard. Aerial drops of water and firefighting slurry rained down on the blaze.

By the end of the day the fire was largely beaten and was 60 percent contained. Jesse Lavender of the Florida Forest Service said his agency will remain on site while the firefighters who came to help head home.

“We’re going to remain on site and make sure it doesn’t spruce back up,” Lavender said. “Crews are working on hot spots, maintaining lines, overall, there’s very low fire activity.”

The Newman Fire was 95 percent contained at just over 1,700 acres by the end of the weekend.

The first full day of the Newman Fire on August 13 caused some evacuations east of Naples — people and animals.

Nearby residents said at the time some homeowners in the vicinity who keep horses had evacuated or were preparing to move the animals.

While evacuating a residence by oneself isn’t an easy chore, it’s made more difficult with a large animal that may often have a sense of an impending emergency situation.

"They 100% sense what's going on. I have a lot of experience with horses, and one of the biggest things is that, like, you can't involve yourself with their neuroses. So I just had to turn all that off, and they don't have a chance to say no. They can't say no," Kristin Peterson of Fort Myers, helping to move horses, said at the time. “They need to get on the trailer. I have training in getting horses on trailers and getting difficult horses on trailers, and I just ran up and grabbed horses and don't give them time to say no, and just load them up."

The encroaching fire forced her to move several horses — and not just to one place.

"Seven horses from Belle Meade went to Naples Therapeutic Riding Center, and then I grabbed a horse,” she said. “I don't even know whose horse it was. I still don't. I just know it was an older horse. I grabbed him and loaded him up, and he went to Stepping Up Farms."

At the same time, the Florida Forest Service and Greater Naples Fire Rescue were working the fire, and the Collier County Sheriff Office’s Aviation Unit assisted by dropping huge buckets of water.

On April 14, the reinforcements arrived from other local, state, and federal wildland firefighting agencies and the wildfire was largely brought under control.

Rains have helped

Spotty showers throughout Southwest Florida during the first two weeks of April lowered drought levels in certain areas. But rainfall levels have not been close to enough to quench the worst drought to blanket the region in 25 years.

Much of Charlotte County will remain under a once-a-week watering restriction imposed by the Southwest Florida Water Management District through July 1.

Lee and Collier counties are under the regional jurisdiction of the South Florida Water Management District, which has issued water warnings, not watering restrictions. However, Lee County officials revised their water conservation ordinance in 2024 to require one-day-a-week watering through the end of May and no watering between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

The Florida Forest Service reports counties with bans against outdoor burning to sparks from campfires or trash burns don’t start a wildfire include Collier, Lee, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, and DeSoto.

All of Southwest Florida is still dealing with extreme levels of dryness, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Environmental reporting for WGCU is funded in part by VoLo Foundation, a nonprofit with a mission to accelerate change and global impact by supporting science-based climate solutions, enhancing education, and improving health.

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