The larger Bonita Springs brush fire is ninety five per cent contained at seventy acres, and the smaller fire the two newsrooms could not agree on last night now reads the same way in both

The larger of the two brush fires burning near Bonita Beach Road and Radio Tower Road in Bonita Springs is ninety five per cent contained at seventy acres, Gulf Coast News reports.

The station attributes the figure to the Florida Forest Service and gives it as of 10.03 p.m. on Monday. Its report was last updated at 11.08 p.m.

That is up from eighty per cent, which is where both Gulf Coast News and WINK News had the fire at around eight o'clock and which this desk reported at ten. The acreage has not moved. It was seventy acres at 7.09 p.m., seventy at 8 p.m. and seventy at 10.03 p.m.

This desk has reported on these fires four times since Monday afternoon. At 3.54 p.m. the Forest Service had a single fire at an estimated five acres and nought per cent contained. At 5.20 p.m. it had two fires, the larger at sixty acres and fifteen per cent. At 7.09 p.m. the larger was at seventy acres and sixty five per cent. At 8 p.m. it was eighty per cent. Those readings have been overtaken.

Containment is a statement about the perimeter and not about how much of a fire has gone out. At ninety five per cent, a twentieth of the edge of that fire is still open, and ground inside the line can still be burning.

The disagreement over the second fire has closed

The previous item on this fire reported that the two newsrooms did not agree on the smaller of the two fires and said this desk could not tell which reading was current.

WINK News had that fire, on Vincent Road, at 6.1 acres and ninety eight per cent contained as of 8 p.m. Gulf Coast News had it at 4.7 acres and fifty per cent as of 8.52 p.m.

Gulf Coast News now reports the second fire at 6.1 acres and ninety eight per cent contained, which is what WINK reported first. The two outlets agree, and the later figure is the one to carry.

No agency has said anything about the earlier reading, and this desk is not characterising it beyond noting that it no longer stands.

The new figure is carried by one newsroom so far

The ninety five per cent reading on the larger fire comes from Gulf Coast News at the time of writing. WINK News was read again in the same pass and its report still carries the eight o'clock figures of seventy acres and eighty per cent.

Both outlets attribute their numbers to the Florida Forest Service.

There is no document behind this one. Neither the Bonita Springs Fire Control and Rescue District nor the Florida Forest Service has published a written release on these fires that this desk could read, which has been the case since Monday afternoon. The Forest Service page listing current wildfire conditions was checked in this pass and does not mention these fires. Both agencies' accounts are reaching the public through the two stations, and the stations are credited that way.

What the agencies have said

The Bonita Springs Fire Control and Rescue District told the stations that crews responded at about 2.30 p.m. on Monday, after a resident reported hearing thunder and then seeing flames in the area. The district said the fire covered about half an acre when crews arrived and continued to grow.

The Florida Forest Service has dozers responding to construct fire lines around the area, according to the district. The district said crews will remain on scene until the fire is extinguished and the area is safe, and has asked people to avoid the area to give crews room to work.

WINK News reported that fire crews are asking drivers to stay away from the traffic circle in the area.

Jesse Lavender of the Florida Forest Service told WINK News that drought has made for a longer fire season, that rainfall has been spotty across the county with some areas receiving more than others, and that what is needed is rain.

That is a comment about the season and not a cause finding. No agency has stated a cause for either fire. The thunder is what the caller described to the district, and nobody official has said that is what started it.

No evacuation has been ordered, no structure has been reported as threatened, no injury has been reported and no road closure has been announced. None of that is an all clear on a fire that is still open.

Conditions were checked in the same pass. The National Weather Service has no active alert covering Lee or Collier County. There are no active cyclones in the Atlantic. Power is normal in both counties and there is no active drinking water advisory in Collier County or the City of Fort Myers.