Several wildfires burning in eastern Collier County doubled in size late last week to over 80,000 acres total, known collectively as the Avian Complex Fire. 338 firefighters from around the country are battling the blaze in the Big Cypress National Preserve.
While rainfall Sunday and Monday has improved fire conditions and lessened smoke impacts in the area, the rain hasn't been enough to put out the fire. Stephen Spradley, spokesman for Southern Area Incident Management's Gold Team, said the chance of lightning this week could make things worse. "As long as you have lightning, you do have the potential for new wildfires," Spradley said. "There's always that concern with lightning."