Monday, April 24th, 2017 — Florida officials on Sunday lifted evacuation orders for about 2,000 homes threatened by wildfires in drought-stricken central and southwestern parts of the state, after rainfall helped firefighters battle the blazes. As of Sunday morning, a 5,500-acre wildfire in Collier County in southwest Florida that has destroyed nine homes was 50 percent contained, according to officials. In Polk County in central Florida, a wildfire that charred 700 acres was 75 percent contained. A spokesman for the sheriff’s office on Saturday had said that fire was being investigated as suspicious.