Deep Freeze and Drought Fuel Fire in Florida’s Alligator Alley (1)

Firefighters in southwest Florida are battling an expansive blaze on a federal nature preserve as an unusually intense winter drought grips the state.

The National Fire has burned more than 25,700 acres — an area larger than Manhattan — since Sunday in the Big Cypress National Preserve south of Naples. The region is a popular tourist destination known as “Alligator Alley” for its plentiful wildlife.

Fire risk in the preserve has ramped up since a historic deep freeze hit Florida in late January, which brought rare snow and left citrus groves tinged with damaging frost. Temperatures in the state plunged low enough to kill off small ...