A wildfire burning in the Florida Everglades sent the smell of smoke and haze into the air across South Florida early Wednesday.

A fire ignited in the Florida Everglades Monday, quickly burning a large area of the national park, alarming nearby residents.

Danielson noted that Everglades wildfires often go unnoticed by the public, and it’s unusual for wind patterns to push smoke into metro areas. But a persistent west-to-southwesterly wind is doing just that, said Chuck Caracozza, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Miami.

In some areas, crews are relying on helicopters to scoop water from nearby canals and drop it on hotspots of the Mile Marker 39 Fire.

We’re keeping a close eye on a huge brush fire burning in the Florida Everglades. It’s nearly the size of Washington, D.C., and there’s very little containment so far as helicopters work to dump water on it.

A wildfire burning through 1,800 acres of the Everglades is filling the air with smoke across South Florida. While scientists stress that no single fire can be directly pinned to climate change, a hotter,