NORTH PORT — Area firefighters returned to Myakka State Forest on Thursday evening to fight another brush fire.
On Thursday afternoon, a brush fire broke out near the forest's Jennings Boulevard park entrance on the Charlotte County border.
Englewood Fire Department crew with Brush 71 teamed up with the Florida Forest Service to get it under control.
A Florida Forest Service helicopter was also on scene, dropping water with a Bambi bucket while bulldozers worked the ground below, according to Todd Dunn, public information officer for the EFD.
Firefighters from around the region have been fighting fires in wooded areas all week, beginning with two fires in the Myakka State Forest on Monday and Tuesday. The larger of the two fires there burned more than 300 acres.
All of this week's fires at the Myakka State Forest this week have been attributed to a lightning strike.
Other fires around the region have burned in the Orange Hammock Wildlife Management Area on the other end of North Port, the Fred C. Babcock/Cecil M. Webb Wildlife Management Area in southeastern Charlotte County, another fire near Oil Well Road south of Punta Gorda, and also on Thursday at the Myakka State Park east of Sarasota.
Burn bans outlawing outdoor recreational fires and fireworks and sparklers are in place in Charlotte, Sarasota and DeSoto counties due to the severe drought.
