Krome Avenue reopens after smoke and fire shut road for days — but rain still needed
By Michelle Marchante and
Asta Hemenway
Crews are battling a large brush fire in West Miami-Dade that has enveloped 600 acres. But there is progress: A stretch of Krome Avenue was back open to traffic on Wednesday after it was shut down for days because of surrounding flames and heavy smoke.
Krome Avenue was closed from Kendall Drive to Southwest Eighth Street on Monday and Tuesday while firefighters worked to control the three-day-old fire that was sparked by lightning. Fueling the flames is melaleuca, a highly flammable invasive plant from Australia known for pestering the Everglades.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the fire had enveloped 600 acres and was 75% contained to the east side of Krome Avenue, according to the Florida Forest Service Everglades District. Scott Peterich, an agency spokesman, said that rain is needed to help the agency stop the fire.
Since Tuesday night, one-quarter inch of rain has fallen in the area, which has helped firefighting efforts but has not stopped the blaze, Peterich said.
Police shut down a portion of Krome Avenue due to a brush fire in Miami-Dade, Florida on Monday, May 31, 2021. MATIAS J. OCNER mocner@miamiherald.com
Winds from the east are expected to help steer smoke toward the west, away from residential areas, on Wednesday, said Lissette Gonzalez, a meteorologist with Miami Herald news partner CBS4. Scattered showers and storms were also forecast to develop in South Florida Wednesday.
As the Krome Fire continues to burn between SW 8th Street & Kendall Drive, you can see that East wind 10 to 15 mph will help to steer smoke towards the West away from residential areas now. I'll keep you updated throughout the morning on @CBSMiami#CBS4pic.twitter.com/UIHxZEJIpK
Michelle Marchante covers the pulse of healthcare in South Florida and also the City of Coral Gables. Before that, she covered the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes, crime, education, entertainment and other topics in South Florida for the Herald as a breaking news reporter. She recently won first place in the health reporting category in the 2025 Sunshine State Awards for her coverage of Steward Health’s bankruptcy. An investigative series about the abrupt closure of a Miami heart transplant program led Michelle and her colleagues to be recognized as finalists in two 2024 Florida Sunshine State Award categories. She also won second place in the 73rd annual Green Eyeshade Awards for her consumer-focused healthcare stories and was part of the team of reporters who won a 2022 Pulitzer Prize for the Miami Herald’s breaking news coverage of the Surfside building collapse. Michelle graduated with honors from Florida International University and was a 2025 National Press Foundation Covering Workplace Mental Health fellow and a 2020-2021 Poynter-Koch Media & Journalism fellow. Support my work with a digital subscription
Asta Hemenway is a 2021 summer intern at the Miami Herald’s Real Time Breaking News and General Assignment team. She has previously written for The Independent Florida Alligator. There she also served as Metro Editor and the Criminal Justice and Breaking News Reporter. She attends the University of Florida and grew up in Tallahassee.
