Brush fires force train track and road closures
NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, Fla. (WSVN) -- Authorities had to shut down several miles of railroad tracks after a passing train sparked off several fires. Meanwhile, other brush fires in Broward and Miami-Dade have forced road closures.
The most recent fire ignited at about 5 p.m. Thursday, just north of the 836 Expressway, also known as the Dolphin Expressway, and just east of the Florida Turnpike. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews were only battling hot sports by an hour later and had it mostly under control.
The fire ignited just north of the expressway between Northwest 107th and 112th Avenues, between the Dolphin Mall and the International Mall. The westbound lanes of Northwest 12th Street, near 17th Avenue, had to be temporarily shutdown.
Meanwhile, to the north, the Florida Highway Patrol had to divert traffic away from the westbound lanes of I-75 just west of U.S. 27 due to a brush fire burning dangerously close to the roadway. The road is expected to be open again at about 6 p.m.
The fire sparked from flying embers that floated away from a smaller fire that ignited when a power line started sparking as crews were working nearby. "When the fire started, workers reported that an insulator from a power line caused the fire," said Broward Sheriff's Fire Rescue spokesperson Mike Jachles. "They were working underneath the power line."
Jachles said heavy winds from the southeast complicated matters when it blew the embers from the smaller two-acre fire south, near the road, where a new larger, 15-acre fire easily sparked up due to the dry conditions. "It's not just the grass that is dry, it's that the soil underneath that's dry, so it does not take so much to start a fire," Jachles said.
Indirectly related to these fires, the first of the Thursday afternoon blazes ignited from sparks set off by a train. Crews gained the upper hand on a series of fires ignited after a wheel locked on the train at about 5 p.m.
Flying sparks from the train scattered the small fires in parts of Miami Springs, Hialeah, Hialeah Gardens and Medley.
Authorities had to temporarily shut down a four and a half mile length of track to rail traffic, as fire crews fought the scattered blazes. "We have several command posts set up," Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Lt. Elkin Sierra said earlier that day. "This is not one isolated brush fire, it's not one intense brush fire, but it's several fires spread across a vast area."
Some of the fires threatened LP propane tanks. "We have protected the LP tanks with water drops to keep it moist, to keep it cool," Sierra said. He added that a nearby industrial building, located at 8050 NW 90th St., had to be evacuated as a precaution.
The Division of Forestry also sent units to the scenes to aid in the firefight near the tracks.
The governor has issued a state of emergency for Florida due to the persistently dry conditions that have helped spark similar fires across the state.
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