On Feb. 22, 2026, a wildland fire was discovered in Big Cypress National Preserve, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Naples, Fla. The blaze, dubbed the National fire, moved through dry vegetation and sent a plume of smoke billowing over parts of the preserve and nearby communities.
The MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image on the afternoon of February 25. By then, the fire had burned around 24,000 acres (9,700 hectares), according to the National Park Service.
After carrying smoke southward in previous days, winds shifted to start pushing it north by the time Aqua captured this image. According to news reports, the smoke reduced visibility and led to the brief closure of I-75—the interstate nicknamed “Alligator Alley” that runs east-west through the northern part of the preserve. It also contributed to smog over Lake Okeechobee.
Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview.
