Brush Fire Along Tamiami Trail 95% Contained
MIAMI (CBS4) – Miami-Dade firefighters have contained about 95% of a brush fire that sparked early this morning in a wooded area along Tamiami Trail in western Miami-Dade County.
Meanwhile, all roads previously affected by the brush fire were reopened.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spokesman Capt. Eric Baum said the fire was reported about 2:45 a.m. Friday and quickly spread to 400 acres in a mostly undeveloped section of the county.
The fire is burning along Tamiami Trail, also known as SW 8th Street, from around 143rd Avenue to 150th Avenue. Officials initially closes a 30-block stretch of 8th street from 147th to 177th Avenues due to smoke from the fire. But reopened the roads Friday afternoon.
The fire was still burning in the early afternoon hours Friday but it is somewhat contained, CBS4's Silva Harapetien reported.
Baum said high winds, low humidity and high temperatures are creating "a perfect storm for wildfires" in South Florida.
Officials said about 400 acres have burned so far but luckily, the area is surrounded by natural barriers such as canals and roads. The smoke from the fire is blowing toward the west into the Everglades.
Firefighters are patrolling neighborhoods near the fire to make certain blowing embers don't start additional fires.
Volunteer firefighter Christian Perez said the fire is a beautiful force of nature.
"It's kind of weird to say, but it's beautiful," Perez said. "It's nature at its best right there."
Fire crew use water from the canal while a fire-rescue chopper was working from the air.
Officials aren't sure how the fire started. So far, no evacuations have been recommended, but Baum urges motorists to use caution as they travel in the area.
"There was a lot of smoke or…visually it was very hard to see," nearby resident Domingo Trujill said.
The main concern is that melaleuca plants that fuel the fire are just down the road.
"We have one of our firefighters that lives at Trail Glades and he has a residence there," Scott Teterich with the Florida Division of Forestry said. "I believe there is a shooting range there and recreational Broward County park system there. We're hoping it does not go down that far.
Earlier Friday:
