A fire in several areas of the Big Cypress National Preserve east of Naples that started nine days ago has multiplied due to lightning strikes and burned more than 15,000 acres, threatening private and public buildings, roads and sensitive wildlife areas.
The fires have also been a threat to traffic along Alligator Alley (I-75) with the Florida Highway Patrol warning motorists that it could close the interstate at any time due to low-visibility due to smoke. The first fire started May 8 when lightning ignited a blaze in what is called the Ellison area. That fire has now burned some 7,908 acres, said Katherine Corrigan, public information officer for the preserve.
She said that after the first fire started three more ignited from lightning on May 10 and another on either May 12 or 13. The fires have burned a total of 15,221 acres since May 8, Corrigan said, with about 5 percent of the fires contained.
Corrigan said that no structures have been destroyed or damaged by the fire and firefighters were also igniting vegetation around camps to create a fire break for advancing flames. There are many private camps with structures as large as cabins or as small as lean-tos in the preserve, she said.
“We are under very dry conditions,” she said, adding that the threat of fire won’t lessen until more rain adds to the water table and provides more moisture. Corrigan said that due to the remote nature of some of the fires, firefighters use roads and natural barriers such as lakes and wet areas as fire breaks to limit the fire’s spread and ground crews are working with aircraft to drop water.
From News-Press.com: https://www.news-press.com/story/news/2015/05/17/wildfires-burn-more-than-15000-acres-at-big-cypress/27496385/