South Miami-Dade brush fire now 65% contained

Firefighters made progress battling a large brush fire in south Miami-Dade Saturday morning.

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Officials at a makeshift staging area just before the 18-Mile Stretch of U.S. 1 said their main goal, besides battling the wildfire, is to keep the roads open and to contain it to the area it’s at now.

Chief Andy Alvarez, the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue incident commander, said with a NASCAR race in Homestead and with three correctional centers nearby, containment of these flames is extremely important.

Alvarez said the firefight has lasted days because of extremely dry conditions: it has not rained and winds have been changing drastically, impacting how fast these wildfires spread. He said every time the wind changes, the fire changes.

“Obviously there is still going to be a lot of smoke and fire out here because it’s over 27,000 acres that have burned. We do have 50% of that contained, so we are doing a good knockdown as far as the fire,” Alvarez said. “There will still be smoke for days or weeks to go. Even when the fire is out and everything is 100% contained, you are still going to have smoke and that’s the reason for the concern and obviously respiratory issues. So if you don’t need to be out, don’t be out.”

Later on Saturday, MDFR officials said the fire was 65% contained.

Alvarez said Saturday’s efforts will also focus on dropping water into the fires via helicopters and small airplanes.

MDFR and Florida Forest Service also have crews on the ground also battling the flames.

“We’ve made a lot of progress, we have more boots on the ground, so the strike team of engines from north and central Florida, so we have more resources out there with engines,” Ludie Bond, with the Florida Forest Service, said.

Officials in both Miami-Dade and the Florida Keys have asked residents to closely monitor conditions and avoid U.S. 1 if possible, due to frequent intermittent closures.