Wildfire burning in southwest Miami-Dade County

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]Covers continues right now with local 10's Terrell Forney. He is live in Southwest Miami-Dade with the latest details on the fire burning there.

[00:00:06]Terrell?

[00:00:08]And Calvin, this is a brush fire that continues to grow tonight, but those fire suppression efforts, they are making a huge difference. That is because we know that fire crews are reporting a 50% containment on a brush fire that has already consumed more than 300 acres.

[00:00:27]Firefighters standing guard inside this townhome community in Southwest Miami-Dade, which sits along the edge of a large brush fire that first sparked up over the weekend. They had like five trucks out here spraying water. There was three helicopters.

[00:00:40]So, they did a good job today. Stephanie Chapman is among the many residents who've been watching things closely. The smoke and flames as seen from this video and Sky 10 inched a little too close for comfort to her home. Our first thoughts was, are we do we have to evacuate?

[00:00:57]We didn't know what the firefighters didn't even have an answer for us.

[00:01:02]Miami-Dade Fire Rescue giving us an up-close look at their fighting efforts as the agency works alongside Florida Forest Service. Firefighters performing a number of water drops to help contain the fire and crews keeping things damp in the neighborhood to reduce the chance of it spreading. Ground zero has been a grassy area near Southwest 344th Street and 172nd Avenue. It's not fog, it's smoke and then you can smell it in the air and you just Yesterday there was a big fire over here. Intermittent road closures have made travel unpredictable on some streets around Homestead and Florida City, even for people traveling to and from the Keys as smoky conditions forced temporary closures. It's going to be a hard day. We're breathing all this smoke at work, you know. But by Monday night, the threat to surrounding homes appeared to diminish. Firefighters, though, are not letting down their guard. I feel more calm compared to this morning. Yeah, cuz we see that there's no smoke, there's no fire, so they did their job.

[00:02:05]And they certainly have been working around the clock. They've been working very hard to sort of keep these flames away from these homes. And you can tell by the flashing lights behind me that these fire crews are still in this neighborhood keeping a watchful eye. But they are also encouraging residents that they can of course sleep peacefully knowing that that smoke and those flames are keeping their distance away from at least these homes. We're live in Southwest Miami-Dade tonight. Terrell Forney, Local 10 News.