Miami-Dade County brush fire surpasses Southern California's Palisades Fire in size, Florida Forest Service numbers show
The massive brush fire that has been burning in southern Miami-Dade County this week has now grown bigger than the Palisades Fire of California that captured national headlines earlier this year.
The Palisades Fire, which first ignited on Jan. 7 in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, burned 23,707 acres before it was fully contained on Jan. 31, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The wildfire sparked national news as a "life-threatening" Santa Ana windstorm produced 100 mph gusts throughout Southern California that hampered firefighting efforts for weeks, causing insurmountable damage and forcing hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate their homes.
But the Miami-Dade fire, which ignited just days ago, has now grown to 26,437 acres at 30% containment, according to Friday morning data from the Florida Forest Service, making it nearly 300 acres larger than the Southern California wildfire.
Progress, traffic and health concerns
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews, alongside state and local agencies, have been attacking the fire from both the ground and the air, using helicopters to drop on the blaze.
Meanwhile, the flames have forced the closure of Card Sound Road, one of only two roadways to the Florida Keys. The other road U.S. 1's 18-Mile Stretch, has been sporadically shutting down and reopening over the last few days, and could face intermittent shutdowns in the coming days due to heavy smoke and firefighting operations.
At this time, there haven't been any reports of major damage to homes or businesses nearby, but the Monroe County Sheriff's Office said that Comcast has had patchy service due to the fires affecting some of their infrastructure. There also have not been any major evacuation orders issued, though a juvenile residential facility in the area was evacuated due to the conditions the fire presented.
Authorities are advising people to stay indoors if they smell smoke, keep doors and windows closed and set air conditioning units to recirculate.
Vulnerable groups, including young children, the elderly and those with respiratory issues, should take extra precautions.
Drivers in the affected regions are advised to keep vehicle windows rolled up and use air conditioning in recirculation mode to limit exposure to smoke, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said.
Big, but not Florida's largest
Though the southern Miami-Dade fire is big and growing, it is not the largest wildfire in Florida history. That record belongs to the Florida wildfires of 1998.
Also known as the "1998 Florida Firestorm," the massive blaze — like the Palisades and other Southern California fires of January — was a series of wildfires that swept across the state during the summer of 1998. It involved thousands of separate woodland and mixed-urban rural wildfires that burned over 500,000 acres, destroying over 300 homes and costing $300 million of lost timber value.
In the aftermath of the 1998 wildfires, Florida lawmakers initiated stricter fire prevention regulations and emergency management protocols following the fires.
