Fires burn in Naples Park, Big Cypress preserve

Published: Updated:
Crews worked a Sunday afternoon brush fire that closed a stretch of 111th Avenue North near U.S. 41 in Naples Park. (Submitted photo)

NAPLES PARK, Fla. A Sunday afternoon brush fire in Naples Park closed 111th Avenue North between U.S. 41 and Sixth Street North for several hours, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office said.

The half-acre fire was extinguished by 5 p.m., according to the Florida Forest Service, but the sheriff’s office didn’t say the road was open until shortly before 9 p.m.

Another fire is burning 2 miles north of Alligator Alley in the Big Cypress National Preserve, the National Park Service said Sunday.

The fire began Thursday and had grown to 400 acres by Saturday night, according to park service spokeswoman Jennifer Thelen.

Winds are blowing smoke away from I-75, and no hazard to travelers is expected, Thelen said.

That blaze, known as the Cowbell Fire, is one of a handful burning in eastern Collier County.

The Parliament Fire, also on the preserve, is now 95 percent contained. That fire caused multiple closures of a nearly 60-mile stretch of U.S. 41 and burned more than 26,000 acres.

A fire in the Picayune Strand State Forest that destroyed four homes last month is 100 percent controlled.

Below is a map of the areas affected by the Cowbell Fire:

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