Crews on Sunday are working to contain two wildfires at the Everglades National Park, officials said.
According to park officials, U.S. Wildland Fire Service Firefighters, the two fires that were caused by lightning are the Chipmunk and Vulture fires.
Officials said that the Chipmunk Fire was first reported on Friday and is two miles southwest of Shark Valley. It is about 9,232 acres and has been 30% contained.
The second fire, the Vulture Fire, was reported on Saturday and is east of the Shark Valley Tram Road.
It is about 286 acres and has been 80% contained.
NBC6 spoke to a woman, who said she saw a dark plume of smoke.
“We keep the windows closed, and we turned off the AC so the smell wouldn’t come in,” Gabriela Garay.
Those are just some of the steps Garay said she and her family are taking to keep the smell of smoke from creeping into their home.
She said she saw the smoke Saturday night, but woke up to its smell Sunday morning.
And the smoke isn’t just impacting residents, but also drivers.
“There was a lot of smoke coming out on the west side,” David Salomon said. “It was real intense.”
As crews continue to battle the fires, the Shark Valley area is under an emergency closure, which includes administrative and public facilities.
