The massive 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.
The fire has burned 400 acres as of Saturday night.
MDFR has been battling the blaze from the air, with helicopter water drops, and with crews on the ground.
The fire sparked Thursday east of U.S. 1 and Card Sound Road. The two roads were shut down to traffic ever since.
The closures caused extensive traffic backups and frustration, as drivers flocking to the Florida Keys for Mother’s Day weekend realized thet had ti 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.”
This all comes after another massive brush fire burned through the same area back in March. This fire burned through nearly 30,000 acres.
MDFR Fire Chief Ray Jadallah said the current fire is being 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’re been getting an upper hand on the fire,” said Jadallah.