A wildfire exacerbated by drought in Florida reached 25,000 acres (over 10,000 hectares) on Tuesday in the Everglades, one of the main natural areas in the southern United States, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) warned.
“The ‘National Fire’ burning in Florida has now exploded to a size of 25,000 acres. The wildfire ignited yesterday in the Great Cypress National Preserve,” NOAA said in an advisory.
The fire, which remained uncontained as of this morning, was growing in Collier County, west of Miami, near the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge in the Everglades, a wetland area of more than 610,000 hectares with over 20 endangered species, including big cats, crocodiles, and alligators.
The National Weather Service (NWS) warned residents of “low visibility due to dense smoke.”
Furthermore, the flames are spreading amid “severe” or “extreme” drought conditions in South Florida, according to the NWS office in Miami, where a water shortage alert is in effect, and dozens of counties, including Collier, have banned campfires due to wildfire fears.
“The elevated fire activity is a concern for South Florida this afternoon, as 1) the combination of widespread severe to extreme drought across the region and 2) very dry air could provide conditions for a larger fire,” the agency said in a forecast.
The Everglades have also gained notoriety due to the opening last year of the Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention center, which is about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southeast of the fire’s origin. A satellite image shows potential smoke impacts.
Counties like Miami-Dade have issued water shortage alerts, as Florida has received less than half the normal rainfall, just 1.35 inches (34.3 millimeters) in January, according to the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS).
So far this year, the United States has already recorded nearly 75% more wildfires than during the same period in 2015—almost 7,000, according to the U.S. government’s National Interagency Fire Center.
EFE
