Everglades blaze sends smoke over South Florida
(CNN) — Firefighters were battling a wildfire Monday that has scorched 36,000 acres of the Everglades National Park, the largest in a series of recent blazes in Florida.
The fire in the southern Florida park of hiking trails and campgrounds was about 30 percent contained Monday, said Nina Barrow of the Southern Area InterAgency Management Blue Teams.
We are making some progress on the fire, and we may get some help with the weather today, Barrow said. Forecasts today said we have our best chance of rain in the next week or so — a 30 percent chance — but we also have a chance of lightning.
Monday’s weather could help or hamper firefighters as they scramble to douse the blaze raging across tens of thousands of acres of parkland. Thunderstorms and pea-sized hail could provide moisture to aid in firefighting efforts, but the National Weather Service also is predicting windy conditions, with gusts up to 45 mph, that could spread the flames.
The fire sent a haze of smoke over parts of South Florida — including Miami. Watch the Everglades fire spread
Forecasters issued a dense smoke advisory Monday morning for South Florida, saying smoke could obscure visibility, especially if it combines with fog.
A wildfire in the Everglades will produce a smoke plume that will move across parts of metro and inland Miami-Dade and Broward counties through early this morning, reducing visibility into the 2- to 4- mile range in some areas, the weather service said.
Visibility in some parts of Broward County could be as low a quarter-mile, the weather service said.
Gary Takes, who lives north of Miami in Broward, said thick smoke hung in his neighborhood Monday, leaving an odor that smelled like burning tires. Learn how wildfires spread
The stench permeates through the ventilation system at the office as well as within your car while commuting, Takes said. Most people in the area are very edgy, with lawns and vegetation the brownest they have been in many years.
Five fire crews were battling the blaze Monday as helicopters dropped water from overhead, Barrow said. Firefighters were working to protect structures in the park and also the Cape Sable seaside sparrow, a federally protected species whose only habitat is in the Everglades. iReport.com: Send your wildfire photos, videos
Firefighters also were battling blazes in other parts of Florida, according to state and federal fire officials:
In Glades County, the Myakka Cut fire threatened the towns of Moore Haven and Lakeport. The fire, about five miles north of Clewiston, was burning about 19,000 acres and was 50 percent contained.
Six fires raging across 12,500 acres in Brevard County near Palm Bay were about 80 percent contained Monday morning. The National Interagency Fire Center said it expected the fires to be fully contained by Tuesday. Damage totals more than $9 million, officials said. Last week, Florida authorities charged a suspect with arson in connection with some of the fires in Palm Bay. Watch as authorities handle a suspect
The Mud Swamp fire in Liberty County, about five miles northeast of Sumatra, was scorching about 1,400 acres — some of it in the Apalachicola National Forest — and was 80 percent contained.
