Florida Wildfires Force Highway Closure

The major east-west highway across the southern part of Florida was closed for the third straight day Monday as uncontrolled wildfires burning in the Everglades shrouded Interstate 75 with thick black smoke.

Motorists planning to use the toll road, called “Alligator Alley,” again were forced to make long detours to travel between Miami and Fort Lauderdale on the east coast and Naples and Fort Myers on the west.

No homes were in immediate danger, officials said, but people with respiratory problems were advised to stay indoors to avoid smoke.

The spectacular blazes sweeping through the saw grass prairies in the center of the state were just the latest evidence of the tinder-dry conditions that led Gov. Jeb Bush to declare a drought emergency last week. The governor also asked state legislators to include $13 million more in the upcoming budget to pay for firefighters and equipment.

So far this year, wildfires have charred more than 130,000 acres in several regions of a state where rainfall totals are running more than 50% below normal in many areas. In Miami, for example, only 3.5 inches of rain has fallen this year. Eight inches is normal.

With a high pressure system over the state, little rain was expected in the week ahead.

“High winds, low humidity--more of the same,” said Gene Madden, a spokesman for the Florida Division of Forestry. “That translates into high fire danger throughout the state of Florida.”

Firefighters dropped flaming pellets from helicopters to start backfires in an effort to keep the flames from jumping the I-75 and moving south. Should that happen, it could endanger the Miccosukee Indian village, home to about 300 people, and other residential developments to the east where many thousands more live.

Last week wildfires destroyed more than 40 homes in St. Lucie County, east of Orlando. Smaller fires over the weekend forced evacuations near Destin, in the Florida Panhandle.

The latest drought emergency follows a blazing summer in which July wildfires destroyed 350 homes, most in the Daytona Beach area. In all, 100,000 people were forced from their homes to escape fires that swept over 500,000 acres.

From the air over the Everglades, walls of flames extending several miles in length could be seen marching through the tall sere grass, leaving behind a blackened landscape. Huge, billowing columns of smoke rose skyward for hundreds of feet, bending with variable winds.

At various times over the last three days, smoke and even particles of ash settled down on Miami, 20 miles to the southeast. Air traffic at Miami International Airport was briefly interrupted Saturday when a gusty northwest wind pulled a pall of smoke over the city.

Although the Everglades fires brought major inconvenience to travelers, and health hazards to others, environmentalists said that the blazes would actually have a beneficial effect on the Flora and fauna of the fragile ecosystem.

“In a naturally functioning system, fire causes fertilization of the marsh, a release of minerals into soil, and you get a greening of the area,” said Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida ecologist.

Alligators are able to escape the quick-moving flames by hunkering down in water holes or canals. Birds who flee the flames soon return to find easy feeding on fish and crayfish. Plants rejuvenate quickly.

Some deer may perish, said Mazzotti, and a hot, lingering fire could cause severe damage to islands of hardwood trees in the Everglades. “But this fire does not look to be catastrophic,” he said.

In Naples, at the western end of I-75, desk clerk Julie MacMillan at the Super 8 Motel said the closed highway meant many truckers were pulling in early because they could not complete their runs to Miami on Monday.

“They’re not happy because they can’t get across, and other people wanting to get over to this side can’t make it,” she said. “But the environmentalists say some good is coming from this. So I try to have a good attitude. What can you do?”

Researcher Anna M. Virtue contributed to this story.