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Brush fire shuts down Interstate 75 in southwest Florida

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NAPLES, Fla. (AP) - Authorities say they've shut down a 25-mile stretch of Interstate 75 in southwest Florida as firefighters continue to battle a 6,000-acre brush fire in the Picayune Strand State Forest.

The Naples Daily News (https://goo.gl/g6NLYg ) reports that the Florida Highway Patrol closed the western end of Alligator Alley on Tuesday afternoon.

Workers from the Florida Forest Service and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and firefighters from Collier, Sarasota, Lee and Charlotte counties worked through the night Monday and into Tuesday battling a brush fire that started Sunday and spread throughout eastern Collier County.

Collier County Emergency Services Director Dan Summers says weather and wind conditions have helped spread the fire, which is 30 percent contained.

Residents of several nearby communities have been evacuated.

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Information from: Naples (Fla.) Daily News, http://www.naplesnews.com

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