Miami Veiled in Smoke From Everglades Fires

A milky veil of smoke from fires in the parched grasslands of the Everglades hung across Miami on Tuesday, forcing the evacuation of an alien detention camp and alarming tourists and natives alike.

“My God, I woke up this morning and I thought the hotel was on fire,” said Bertie Green, visiting from Cleveland. “My husband and I sniffed and sniffed; we even looked under the bed. Then, we saw the smoke outside and figured: Here we go, another Miami riot.”

People across the entire county--from the swampland hunting camps to the oceanfront condominiums--could smell the thick smoke. It penetrated buildings, wafting from 2,000 acres of burning brush just north of Everglades National Park, west of the city.

For most of the day, it rode southeasterly winds into the heart of downtown. County health officials urged people to stay indoors and forgo exercise. Emergency calls for respiratory troubles were 10 times the normal rate, according to the fire department.

To many here, it looked as if the city was one huge smokehouse.

“I’ve been choking all day,” Julio Ramos, a messenger, said. “They ought to give me combat pay to work in this.”

By dusk, a friendly sea breeze had begun to push the smoke away from the most-populated areas, but the fires were not yet contained.

More than 100 state and county firefighters battled the multiple blazes. They set small backfires, trying to clear the dry, brittle scrub before bigger fires closed in.

12,000 Acres Burn

Brush fires are common during the dry winter and early springtime in the wetlands west of Miami. But recent months have been especially dry. In just the last week, about 12,000 acres have burned.

The flames are ignited by carelessness, or possibly arson, state forestry officials said. “You get one fire put out and it seems there’s another one going right away,” said firefighter Jerry Weaver.

Rangers at the national park are concerned. The sprawl of flames has moved to within five miles of the park border. “We’re in full suppression mode, and we’ll have people out here ‘round the clock,” park spokeswoman Pat Tolle said.

At one time Tuesday, the fires came within 1 1/2 miles of the Krome Detention Center, a federal camp where aliens are kept while they await exclusion hearings. It was evacuated just before noon.

The 756 detainees, mostly Haitians, were bused to a city baseball stadium. If they cannot return to the Krome camp today, they will be moved to a facility in Texas, said Perry Rivkind, district director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.