FLORIDA CITY, Fla. – A large brush fire continued to cause significant disruptions in two South Florida counties Wednesday.
The fire broke out Tuesday in far south Miami-Dade, leading to closures of Card Sound Road and the 18-Mile Stretch of U.S. 1, the only ways in and out of the Florida Keys.
6 p.m. report:
Drivers on both sides were stranded for hours. Some camped out at a Winn-Dixie on Key Largo. The well-known Gilbert’s Resort put up kitchen and front desk staff in the hotel.
“It’s difficult because so many of our workforce — people that work in the Upper Keys — live in Dade, so they want to get home to their family, friends, pick up kids,” Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay said. “They couldn’t do it.”
As of Wednesday evening, it had burned 14,000 acres and was only 20% contained, according to the Florida Fire Service.
The FFS and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue are using significant air resources to combat the blaze, complicated by dry air and marshy conditions.
“The fire is large, but it’s probably going to get bigger,” Kevin MacEwen, with the Florida Forest Service, said. “We’re right here in between Miami and Key Largo, the ocean’s right there, and it’s very soft, very difficult. So we have to use a lot of air resources and existing boundaries and natural barriers to check up the fire. And we just ask everyone to be, just, patient.”
While U.S. 1 had reopened Wednesday, as of 3:50 p.m., officials closed the 18-Mile Stretch again in both directions due to hazardous conditions, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. Card Sound Road remained closed. It later reopened, but officials said new closures could come at any time as conditions change rapidly.
“Expect continued disruptions in and out of the Florida Keys as the weather/fire mitigation efforts continue to impact traffic,” MCSO spokesperson Adam Linhardt said.
Residents of both south Miami-Dade and the Keys were being asked to closely monitor developments.
Meanwhile, another, less-disruptive brush fire broke out Wednesday in Sweetwater. There were “no reported injuries or threats to nearby structures,” Miami-Dade fire officials said.