Wildfires

The Highway 41 that burned for nearly a week in Everglades National Park is now 100 percent contained, fire officials report.

An 9,149-acre wildfire was initially reported at 2,500-acres on Monday. The fire was downgraded in severity Saturday.

The Charlotte County Commission has reinstated a countywide burn ban effective immediately due to ongoing drought conditions, elevated fire risk, and the potential for extreme fire behavior throughout Charlotte County and Southwest Florida.

There have been four wildfires in six weeks within the Collier County portion of the Everglades. The 1,700-acre Newman Fire, near the Picayune State Forest, and the 41-acre Jetport fire, about five miles from the federal detention facility Alligator Alcatraz, are both at least 75 percent contained. Another two are over.

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.

A wildfire being identified as the Jetport fire is located near the Alligator Alcatraz detention facility in eastern Collier County.

A 1,733-acre wildfire was being fought in the Picayune Strand State Forest in Collier County Monday afternoon. The fire was south of Alligator Alley and prompted a warning from the Florida Highway Patrol.

The size and scope of the wildfire that's been burning in the Big Cypress National Preserve for over a week took a small step back Friday with a reduction in fire area and a small increase in containment. Better mapping helped make those changes and placed the National Fire at 35,027 acres burned and at 67 percent contained by late Friday, according to a press briefing issued by the command structure of the wildfire. That was about 300 fewer acres and three percent more containment.

A pair of wildfires broke out late Sunday near Alligator Alley in the Florida Everglades. One of the fires grew to almost 25,000 acres Wednesday just south of Alligator Alley in the Big Cypress National Preserve near Ochopee. Several roadways are threatened by smoke and flames and a safety advisory has been issued.

Urgent warnings about wildfires breaking out throughout the north and northeastern portions of Florida Saturday will shift south to the Tampa Bay region Sunday, and into Southwest Florida Monday.