Officials estimate that brush fires burned up to 600 acres of Cook County Forest Preserve District property in the Southland Tuesday.
The largest of at least four fires, three of which were in Cook County preserves, ravaged up to 500 acres at the Orland Grassland, a 960-acre preserve that native plants and grassland birds call home.
Witnesses said they saw flames between 8 and 10 feet high near 167th Street and LaGrange Road, the Southtown Star reported.
