By Alabama Public Radio
Montgomery, AL – Nearly 200 wildfires have destroyed more than 33 hundred acres of Alabama forest since Sunday. That's when 55 counties were placed under a fire alert. The alert restricts outdoor burning. The Alabama Forestry Commission reports the most extreme blazes have occurred in the southwestern and northeastern corners of the state. Fire experts usually view March as a time when rain and new foliage naturally stamp out seasonal fires. But this month has been abnormally dry. Mobile County officials estimate their woodlands have burned at the rate of 80 acres an hour this month.