Fires again close Florida's I-75

Arid conditions lend life to raging blazes.

The Associated Press

MIAMI -- Smoke turned daylight to darkness Monday near a fire in the Everglades that has charred about 130,000 acres, prompting authorities to warn some people with respiratory problems to stay indoors. "It looks worse than midnight out there," said Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Greg Edwards. "Visibility's less than 100 feet." The smoke blanketed south Florida's main east-west highway, Interstate 75, and forced authorities to keep about 60 miles of it closed. The road, known as Alligator Alley, could be closed for days, Edwards said. In communities immediately east of the fire -- about 25 miles northwest of Miami -- people with asthma, bronchitis and emphysema were urged to stay indoors if possible. The fire was threatening two Indian reservations. It had reached the Miccosukee Indian Reservation, where several hunting camps and shacks were in danger earlier in the day. Just to the north, the blaze was about two miles east of the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation. No structures were threatened there. Firefighters had hoped the Miami Canal, which runs about 70 miles from Lake Okeechobee to Miami, would serve as a barrier to keep the flames from advancing farther. But the blaze jumped the canal Monday and was advancing toward the Miccosukee Indian Reservation. No evacuations were ordered, however. Firefighters were trying to keep the flames back at an airboat trail that offers a watery break in the dry sawgrass, said David Stull, an operations specialist with the state Division of Forestry. Officials expected erratic winds and dry weather to remain in the coming days, making new fires quick to start and difficult to fight. Firefighters set controlled blazes to help contain the Everglades flames, which charred dry marsh grass and darkened the sky in the Fort Lauderdale and Miami areas with clouds of thick smoke over the weekend. The fire began in the eastern Everglades late last week, possibly ignited by heat from a vehicle's catalytic converter. Aided by swirling winds, it quickly became the largest of at least 2,515 fires that have burned more than 130,000 acres in Florida this year. Firefighters from Texas and Arizona have been called in to help. With rainfall far below normal during Florida's December-through- April dry season, officials fear a repeat of last summer, when fires scorched nearly 500,000 acres and forced 100,000 people from their homes. With a high pressure system over the state, little rain was expected in the week ahead. "High winds, low humidity -- more of the same," said Gene Madden, a spokesman for the Florida Division of Forestry. "That translates into high fire danger throughout the state of Florida." The latest drought emergency follows a blazing summer in which July wildfires destroyed 350 homes, most in the Daytona Beach area. In all, 100,000 people were forced from their homes to escape fires that swept over 500,000 acres. From the air over the Everglades, walls of flame extending several miles in length could be seen marching through the tall, sere grass, leaving behind a blackened landscape. Huge, billowing columns of smoke rose skyward for hundreds of feet, bending with variable winds. At various times over the past three days, smoke and even particles of ash settled down on Miami, 20 miles to the southeast. Air traffic at Miami International Airport was interrupted briefly Saturday when a gusty northwest wind pulled a pall of smoke over the city. Firefighters dropped flaming pellets from helicopters to start backfires in an effort to keep the flames from jumping I-75 and moving south.

Copyright 1999
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.