The Nation - News from Feb. 3, 1985

South Florida firefighters hampered by dry, windy weather, continued to battle 68 new fires that broke out Friday and burned 3,422 acres, said Paul Wills, a Division of Forestry spokesman. Seventeen small fires burned 341 acres north of Orlando. All but two of the new fires were under control. Using tractors and heavy equipment, firefighters tried to strengthen fire lines to hold a blaze in the Golden Gate area near Naples against shifting winds that were expected to accompany a cold front moving into the area. Since the first of the year, 1,573 fires have destroyed 60,513 acres of wooded land and about 60,000 acres of grasslands.