Wildfires burning in the Florida Panhandle's swampland this week have destroyed more than a dozen homes and forced least 500 people to evacuate in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.
Officials say the three blazes in northwest Florida have been exacerbated by winds and dry weather conditions, according to a report from the Tampa Bay Times.
One fire in Santa Rosa County, which tore through 2,000 acres and shut down nine miles of Interstate 10, was just 20 percent contained when officials gave a 9 p.m. press conference Wednesday night.
Nicknamed the Five Mile Swamp fire, the blaze began as a prescribed burn on private property Monday but it quickly went out of control.
🚨WILDFIRE UPDATE🚨@FLForestService crews are in day 3 of suppression efforts on the #5MileSwampFire. Additional firefighting personnel & resources are en route to assist.
— FL Dept. of Agriculture & Consumer Services (@FDACS) May 6, 2020
I-10 is closed from Exit 22 Avalon Blvd to Exit 31 at Hwy 87.
Follow @FFS_Blackwater for updates. pic.twitter.com/9XWX9iueHr
Comment: Just to emphasize how warped the weather patterns have become, in Australia: Melbourne's wettest April since 1960, cold temperatures dropping to record levels
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