South Florida Sun-Sentinel
(TNS)
A brush fire in southern Miami-Dade grew to an estimated 24,000 acres by Thursday afternoon, prompting officials to close roads and warn the public of the potential for smoky conditions.
The Florida Forest Service and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue joined the team effort to battle the fire south of Homestead, which grew fivefold within the span of a day. Helping it thrive were the region’s dry and windy conditions.
While there was no threat to neighborhoods Thursday, the wind may carry the smoke for miles and pose a health concern. “We advise residents to limit their time outdoors, keep the windows and doors of their homes closed, and recirculate their air conditioning,” according to a statement from Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.
The fire kept Card Sound Road — a road that links the mainland to the Florida Keys — closed Thursday. Also shut down was U.S. 1 on Thursday, the latest time it was closed since it was reopened earlier this week.
Battling the blaze
A key firefighting strategy in Miami-Dade has been “containment” — or trying to stop the fire from spreading by clearing nearby vegetation, also known as “control lines” or “firebreaks.” As of Thursday afternoon, the fire was nearly a third contained.
“If that fire is currently at 20% or 30% containment, that means 20% or 30% of that total perimeter now has some kind of control line on it that’s going to to stop that fire from spreading in that particular direction or that area,” said David Godwin, the University of Florida Southern Fire Exchange director.
Containing the fire has been more challenging for crews because of the marsh-like terrain where the flames rage. Firefighting equipment is far more likely to get stuck or sink in the muck.
‘Fire fingers’
Aerial footage from Miami-Dade Fire Rescue shows that the brush fire isn’t one continuous blob of flames. Instead, the fire has taken on a more patchwork approach.
“If you have different vegetation, different moisture dynamics, all sorts of things that are going to alter how flammable your vegetation is, that can cause fire fingers, so kind of strands of fire to spread out and move faster than the fire beside it,” said University of Florida Forest Management assistant professor Victoria Donovan.
Pulses of wind may then carry the fire and move it farther away from other patches, she said.
“It can be a single source of ignition, but it can create this patchy dynamic across the landscape,” she said.
And though Godwin said the now 24,000-acre fire is a “pretty good size,” it is not unheard of for South Florida to see fires get to that size and larger due to the abundance of “contiguous fuels” in the brush of the Everglades.
“It’s getting a lot of attention from the firefighting resources down there, in particular it’s the size and its proximity to populated areas and important roadways,” Godwin said. “Because of all those things, the state and local fire managers are putting a lot of resources toward managing this fire as quickly and as safely as they can.”
Weather conditions ahead
A weak cold front will push winds toward the northwest and bring breezier conditions on Thursday night, which could lead wildfire smoke to persist in the Miami-Dade area and possibly even pushing toward Broward and Palm Beach counties, according to the National Weather Service in Miami.
Fire weather concerns are still likely on Friday as the air stays hot, dry and windy. Rain is possible next week, but chances are only hovering between 20% and 40% on Monday and Tuesday.
“If we’re lucky, a quarter to a half-inch total, but even that might be a little generous, so nowhere near as much rainfall as we need,” National Weather Service Miami meteorologist Chris Fisher said. “We’re running a deficit of at least several inches over most of the area. … We really would almost need an all-day steady rain to really help situations down here, which we don’t see happening anytime soon.”
Fortunately, winds are expected to die down beginning on Friday and through the weekend, so red flag warnings aren’t likely to be issued, Fisher said.
Relative humidity will drop even more Friday in the 20% to 30% range but are expected to rise over the weekend between 40% and 60%, Fisher said.
In the meantime, Fisher advised people, especially those in the Miami-Dade area and those with respiratory issues, to be cautious.
“Anyone with with respiratory issues, they’ll want to limit any time outdoors and keep their windows closed and stuff like that because if they have asthma or they’re sensitive to air particulates, the smoke could certainly cause some problems for those individuals,” he said.
Godwin encourages people who live near highly vegetated or wooded areas to “take a look at their yards, and take a look at their homes, and do sort of a wildfire and home-safety checkup,” which involves assessing any flammable risks around their homes, such as dry vegetation or gas cans right near their home.
“It’s a good time to move those things away, and to take stock of your house and your yard, and do what you can to help reduce the fire risk to your home and your to your property,” Godwin said.
Smoldering fires
The exact cause of the Miami-Dade brush fire is unknown.
Even once firefighters are able to entirely contain it, there still may be more work to do.
Godwin explained fire crews may go inside the area to do “mop-up” work.
“That’s where they’re working to go in, using whatever tools are necessary or appropriate for that particular site, to put out continuing burning or smoldering fires within the unit,” he said.
©2025 South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Visit sun-sentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
