Firefighters in southwest Florida are battling an expansive blaze on a federal nature preserve as an unusually intense winter drought grips the state.
The National Fire has burned more than 25,700 acres — an area larger than Manhattan — since Sunday in the Big Cypress National Preserve south of Naples. The region is a popular tourist destination known as “Alligator Alley” for its plentiful wildlife.
Fire risk in the preserve has ramped up since a historic deep freeze hit Florida in late January, which brought rare snow and left citrus groves