Florida fire forces highway near Disney World to close

MAYO, Florida (CNN) -- Smoke from Florida wildfires forced police Monday to close part of a highway leading to the Disney World resort because of poor visibility.

Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Harold Frear said part of Interstate 4 was closed after smoke was suspected to have contributed to several auto accidents, at least one of them fatal.

Authorities later reopened the interstate.

The highway patrol also has closed a portion of the interstate in Polk County because of poor visibility and to investigate the accidents.

Meanwhile, Annaleasa Winter, an information officer with the state Division of Forestry, said Monday the Mallory Swamp fire that had burned more than 60,000 acres in northwest Florida was about 25 percent contained.

RESOURCES CNN weather forecast for Orlando, Florida

No significant rainfall was predicted for the coming week, but wind speeds in the region were expected to be low.

A statement from the Division of Forestry said workers have constructed more than 20 miles of fire lines, but 100 more miles of lines still need to be built.

"The fire lines are holding well," Winter said.

The voluntary evacuations of 300 people in Lafayette and Dixie counties were still in effect.

No structures have been confirmed as lost, Winter said, but the loss to the state's timber industry is now estimated to be $100 million.

Smoke from the Mallory Swamp fire and another fire in southern Georgia were affecting the air quality in towns as far away as Savannah, Georgia, and Hilton Head Island, South Carolina -- 250 to 300 miles to the northeast.

A command post has been set up at the Mayo Correctional Facility to fight the Mallory Swamp fire. Winter said state and federal firefighting units Sunday had been called in to help local firefighters battle the Mallory Swamp blaze.

In all, more than 350 people are fighting the fire, using helicopters and air tankers. National Guard troops were expected to contribute to the effort, the forestry division said.

In Lake County, firefighters were battling a 700-acre fire, about 30 miles from Orlando in Groveland. A Division of Forestry official said lightning started the fire Saturday in a swamp area. The blaze, located on the north side of Highway 50, has not burned any structures.

The Division of Forestry reported 2,825 fires have burned 254,360 acres in the state since January 1. Combined with fires tracked separately by federal agencies, more than 302,068 acres have burned in Florida since the beginning of the year -- more than half the total acreage scorched nationwide so far this year, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.