Wildfires

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

Newman Drive wildfire near Naples prompts evacuations. Limited visibility is possible overnight due to the smoke, and the east winds will move the smoke plume toward the Metro Southwest Coast of Florida.

Over 1,500 wildfires have burned over 54,000 acres in Florida since January, and the peak of wildfire season is likely to be more active due to the drought and intense heat.

Despite recent rain, officials say historic cold fronts through the winter, now coupled with an extreme drought, are increasing the risk of wildfires to Floridians.

Despite rains that extremely dry ground siphoned up almost as soon as it fell Thursday, Friday and Saturday, several brush fires still managed to erupt across the area.

There have been about 1,500 wildfires in the first three months of 2026, and the state is on track to surpass the last two years' records. The busiest part of the fire season is April, May and June.

Editor's Note: State Route 29 will be closed Saturday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. for firefighting activity. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, the National Fire in the Big Cypress National Preserve has 154 firefighters working the blaze, 14 fire engines, four helicopters, three fixed-wing aircraft, and three water tankers. The cost of fighting the fire is more than $1.2 million. The fire could also result in a "super fog" — a thick, vision-hampering shroud that could affect motorists near the fire area.

A pair of wildfires broke out late Sunday near Alligator Alley in the Florida Everglades. One of the fires grew from five to 10,000 acres Monday afternoon just north of Alligator Alley in the Big Cypress National Preserve near Ochopee as firefighters attacked the blaze on the ground and from the air.

80 percent of Flroida is at least under abnormally dry conditions and althogh there is a cold front that could bring showers, the dry air stays in place.

The presentation drew on Indigenous knowledge and modern science to reframe how the public views wildfire and prescribed burns.

Suncoast Searchlight partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims.

The drought in Florida continues to worsen. There is only a fringe area in the extreme western Panhandle that is not experiencing drought, and the worst drought levels affect parts of Central and South Florida.