SOUTH MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - The grass fire that ignited earlier this week in South Miami-Dade and led to intermittent road closures is now 75% contained, according to the Florida Forest Service.
7News cameras captured traffic flowing smoothly along U.S. 1, Saturday morning. But that wasn’t the case on Friday for U.S. 1 and Card Sound Road, which remained shut down on and off due to the smoky conditions.
Cameras also captured Miami-Dade Fire Rescue’s mobile command center, as emergency crews prepared for yet another day of battling this blaze.
“They’ve been able to work the fire actively, and as aggressively as possible,” said Michelle Danielson with Florida Forest Service.
There were considerably fewer vehicles at the command post by 11 p.m. Officials said fire hasn’t grown past 400 acres as of Saturday night.
“Things are looking good,” said Florida Forest Service spokesperson Kevin MacEwen. “We had some pretty windy weather, and it stayed where it was supposed to.”
MDFR has been battling the blaze from the air, with helicopter water drops, and with crews on the ground.
“Fortunately, we were very aggressive the first night, us and Miami-Dade Fire,” said MacEwen. “We really jumped on it, the area was dry enough that we could put equipment in.”
The fire sparked Thursday east of U.S. 1 and Card Sound Road. The two roads were shut down to traffic on and off ever since.
“They told me anywhere from four to six hours to get [into the Florida Keys],” driver Eddie Suarez told 7News’ Sheldon Fox Thursday night.
The closures caused traffic backups and frustration, as drivers flocking to the Florida Keys for Mother’s Day weekend realized they had to turn around or wait for hours for the roadways to reopen.
It wasn’t just visitors feeling the impact.
“I’m trying to see if I can make it to work,” said driver Frenty Delsy.
“It’s unfortunate for all the locals, to be quite honest with you, and the business owners,” said driver Liza Diepa. “I own a property in Key Largo, and I actually have to go because it’s an Airbnb.”
But on Saturday, officials said drivers probably won’t be seeing any more active flames. Rather, they might see some smoky smoldering patches.
This blaze is much smaller than a massive brush fire that burned through the same area back in March. This fire also shut down the only way in an out of the Keys several times and burned through nearly 30,000 acres.
“These have been some of the most complex fires I’ve ever seen in my career, because of all the stuff that’s around here and how many people live here and how much of the area burned. I mean, it was all so dry,” said MacEwen.
MDFR Fire Chief Ray Jadallah said the current fire was fueled by the aftermath of the previous one.
“There’s a lot of dead wood, dry grass, areas that didn’t burn from the last fire approximately a couple of weeks ago,” he said.
Crews nevertheless remain optimistic.
“There are some challenges trying to access a lot of this area, but with the various helicopters conducting the water drops, we’ve been getting an upper hand on the fire,” said Jadallah.
MacEwen said the resulting road closures have had big impacts.
“There’s [emergency medical services], there’s supplies going to and from, fuel for planes, for cars, for everything. Everything comes to a halt,” he said.
But on Saturday, U.S. 1 and Card Sound Road remained open the majority of the day.
Officials hope that moving forward, there won’t be any more closures.
“There is some rain in the forecast. Hopefully, we’re wrapping this fire season up,” said MacEwen.
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