WILDFIRE R30 010604

Firefighters are making progress on Florida's worst wildfire of the year.

The so-called Mallory Swamp fire in rain-parched Lafayette and Dixie Counties is now 70 percent contained after three arduous weeks and nearly 61-thousand scorched acres.

The nearby Koon Lake fire, which destroyed nearly 13-hundred acres, is 50 percent contained.

Meanwhile, new fires sparked by lightning Saturday have sent another 12-hundred acres up in flames. About half of those are located in the Everglades.