Wildland firefighters from more than a dozen agencies used brush trucks and tractors as well as a pair of Blackhawk helicopters and strike teams to get the upper hand on a wildfire burning for several days in the Picayune Strand State Forest just east of Naples.
While the wildfire grew to 1,733 acres Tuesday evening, containment also increased from 40 to 60 percent, the Florida Forest Service said.
"We're actively fighting the fire with every resource we possibly can get. It's been a tough fight," Jesse Lavender, a Florida Forest Service spokesman, said. "We have multiple crews fighting both sides of the fire as we speak. It's in a really dry area."
Lavender said more than 200 firefighters were on scene late Tuesday from more than a dozen local, state, and federal wildland firefighting agencies.
"Of course, we all know about the drought and the freezes that we've had this season"
— Jesse Lavender, Florida Forest Service firefighter
Lavender said the wildfire is burning in a heavily wooded area that's hard to get to. The vegetation is thick and in the way. The fuel load -– downed trees, broken branches, shredded underbrush from the hurricanes of the last few years -- had dried out further by the long-term drought and several stretches of cold, windy weather this winter.
Previously:
- Lack of rain strengthens drought conditions, stokes wildfire worries for Southwest Florida in 2026
- Wildfire, burn bans, continue to spread in Southwest Florida
- Two wildfires burning in the Big Cypress National Preserve, nearly 25,000 acres singed; Flames along edge of I-75, smoke threatening other roadways
The fire was named the Newman Drive Fire since that was where it was first spotted.
The Collier County Sheriff's Office said some of the several evacuations due to the wildfire are still in place for the following streets: Stable Way, Newman Drive, Barton Gilba Drive, Benfield Road, and Le Buffs Road. Evacuations have been lifted for Forest Glen Community.
A temporary Wildfire Smoke Refuge is available for East Naples residents at Collier County's South Regional Library at 8065 Lely Cultural Parkway from 1 until 8 p.m. Tuesday. This location is not a Safe Haven site and is not for overnight sheltering. The Golden Gate Community Center at 4701 Golden Gate Parkway remains open for evacuees and is a pet-friendly shelter. Evacuees are to bring all supplies.
Beck Boulevard is closed between Mannix Drive and Benfield Road, with the exception of residents and first responders.
Residents of the following communities should remain on alert and follow brush fire developments: Sun Retreat, Panther Walk RV Resort, Forest Glen, Caymas, Seven Shores, Sapphire Cove, Milano Lakes, Hammock Park Apartments, and Azure.
Do not operate drones in the area of the active brush fire because it threatens the air crews and can shut down the aerial assault on the blaze, which can really interfere with fighting the wildfire.
The sheriff's Office warned that motorists in the area are likely to experience reduced visibility due to heavy smoke and should use caution.
Forecasters from the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network said there is no rain in the forecast for Tuesday, and winds were expected to carry smoke westward today toward much of Naples.
"The conditions that we want to help in the firefight include cool temperatures, cloud cover, high relative humidity, light winds, and continuous showers…. And unfortunately, very few of those elements are in the forecast," FPREN meteorologist Megan Borowski said Tuesday. "At least over the short term, there's no rain in sight, and temperatures are going to trend above average later this week."
Borowski said that smoke will continue to impact communities west of the wildfire site, including Berkshire Lakes and Naples. She said that in these areas, smoke may limit visibility, will impact air quality, and that those in impacted areas should limit time outdoors.
Nearby residents said that some homeowners in the vicinity of the fire who keep horses have moved or are 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. "They need to get on the trailer. I 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. 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," she said. "And I believe that all of M & H went there, and then we went to Benchmark Farms and grabbed two other horses, and they went to Bay Head Farm."
Peterson said that despite being scattered all over, the owners just had to have trust, give out their contact info, hand over the horses, and away they went.
The Florida Forest Service and Greater Naples Fire were working the fire with CCSO's Aviation Unit assisting by dropping huge buckets of water. Crews improved fire lines — typically 10 feet wide or less — around structures and performed a 15-acre backburn Monday night to reduce the spread of the fire overnight.
Alerts about the fire began being issued shortly after noon on Monday. The fire first burned south of Alligator Alley.
Florida Highway Patrol troopers are still watching I-75 and other roads in the area overnight to make sure smoke from the fire does not make driving too dangerous.
The FHP alert said that all I-75 lanes remained open with visibility considered good. The FHP said that motorists traveling through the area are urged to use caution, reduce speed, and remain alert for any changing conditions. Updates will be provided as needed.
Lavender, from the state forest service, said because the Newman Road wildfire is particularly smoky and the winds are expected to be variable, the smoky conditions will probably get worse and better several times before firefighters put the fire out.
"We've got a little ways to go on this one, and you know, people need to be patient," Lavender said. "We're doing our job, and we're making progress."
There have been celebrations recently at the Picayune Strand State Forest, where a successful years-long reclamation was recently completed.
Picayune Strand State Forest, at 74,000 acres, is a wildlife management area that borders the western edge of the 729,000-acre Big Cypress National Preserve, both part of the Big Cypress Basin in Southwest Florida.
The restoration of the Strand repaired 85 square miles of distorted and drained wetlands in western Collier County and returned them to something close to their natural state.
Crews removed about 260 miles of crumbling roads, plugged 48 miles of canals, and built three massive pump stations to restore the natural flow of water across the landscape.
The project cost roughly $435 million and took more than 15 years.
The Picayune Strand was the first major tract of land to be repaired and reclaimed under the multi-billion-dollar, multi-decadal Everglades Restoration.
It also features a grid of closed roads over part of it, left over from previous land development schemes.
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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