Everglades wildfire grows to 48,000 acres but is now 60% contained: officials

Milena Malaver, Miami Herald on Aug 23, 2025

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MIAMI — The largest wildfire in Florida this year is now more than halfway contained, according to the Florida Forest Service.

The Everglades blaze, known as the “Mile Marker 39” fire, has scorched 48,000 acres since it began Monday evening. As of Saturday morning, firefighters have managed to contain 60% of the flames.

Ground crews have struggled with the challenges of the Everglades ecosystem, where wetlands make many areas difficult to reach. To access the fire, teams have used airboats and are concentrating their efforts on zones they can reach, said Florida Forest Service spokesperson Michelle Danielson.

The cause of the fire is still unknown, though Danielson noted that lightning because of thunderstorm activity around this time of year may explain it.

South Florida, particularly Broward County, has experienced smoky, hazy skies all week, and will likely continue to experience similar conditions through the rest of the weekend. The smoke triggered an air quality alert that ran from Wednesday night through Thursday morning.

Everglades wildfires can often burn unnoticed by the public, but wind patterns are pushing smoke into heavily populated areas, Danielson said.

The winds have been blowing in a west-to-southwesterly direction, said Chuck Caracozza, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Miami.

“What that’ll do each day is it’ll help blow the smoke, unfortunately, back into the metro areas, particularly of northern Broward County and south Palm Beach County,” Caracozza told The Miami Herald on Friday.

The fire is concentrated in the 3A North Conservation Area of the Everglades, bordered by the Broward-Palm Beach county line to the north, I-75 to the south, U.S. 27 to the east, and the Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area, according to the Forest Service. Officials are urging drivers to use extra caution on these roads, where heavy smoke can reduce visibility.

This wildfire is nearly twice the size of the South Miami-Dade fire that burned for more than a week in March, intermittently closing roads to the Florida Keys. For scale, Walt Disney World Resort in Kissimmee covers just more than 25,000 acres — about half the size of the current blaze.