Conditions are ripe for a springtime of fires in South Florida, forest experts say
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Massive Miami-Dade brush fire raged for days; burned over 26,000 acres
The Florida Forest Service, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue and Monroe County Fire Rescue spent more than a week in mid-March battling a 26,000-acre brush fire that caused full road closures of the Florida Keys and polluted air with smoke.
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The spell of dry weather and a colder than normal winter is making the spring ripe for wildfires in South Florida, fire experts are predicting.
A cooler, dryer winter with frosts, freezes “and even snow” in some parts of the Florida has made the spring drier than usual, said Ludie Bond, a spokeswoman and doctor of forestry with the Florida Forest Service.
“We’ve also had back-to-back-to back hurricanes,” she noted, referring to two powerful storms that hit Florida last fall: Hurricane Milton, which devastated the Gulf Coast in October with more than 100-mph winds, and Hurricane Helene, whose powerful winds and storm surge lay waste to the Gulf Coast and Panhandle in September.
READ MORE: Hurricane Milton carves scar across Florida. At least 11 dead, 3 million without power
The storms blew down hard timber, and saltwater storm surge was brought farther inland, killing vegetation. And while the winter days have been sunny, dry and breezy — perfect for outdoor activities — those same climate patterns have led to crops and plants drinking up the scarce moisture.
“The vegetation is pulling whatever moisture there is to bloom, making it even drier,” Bond said.
The result: More fires like the one that has been ablaze in south Miami-Dade, burning more than 25,000 acres since Tuesday from Homestead to Florida City to the Monroe County line.
READ MORE: Can you enter or leave the Keys as wildfires close roads? Get to car race? What to know
“This is a wind-driven fire,” said Bond, standing Friday afternoon on a patch of vegetation on Southwest 344th Street in Homestead that burned the day before.
The winds have intensified the blaze and blown the smoke as far north as Homestead and Cutler Bay.
“As the wind shifts and changes and the fire starts moving in different directions, so does the smoke,” Bond said.
She said the rainy season is still about eight weeks away, so conditions will remain conducive to wildfires. The National Interagency Fire Center, which issues wildfire outlooks nationwide every quarter, predicted the spring will be ripe for wildfires in South Florida and the state.
Human causes to fires
About 80 percent of wildfires are caused by humans, Bond noted. It could be a spark from a four-wheeler or a lawnmower, a hot muffler touching dry grass or an outdoor fire that wasn’t properly extinguished.
She and other fire experts do not yet know the cause of the South Miami-Dade brush fires, as their main focus right now is extinguishing the blaze.
This story was originally published March 22, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
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