Brushfire continues to burn in SW Miami-Dade

As of Wednesday morning, Turkey West Fire was 45 percent contained

MIAMI – A brush fire continued to burn Wednesday near Southwest 117th Avenue and 344th Street in Miami-Dade County.

The fire is 45 percent contained and firefighters are now on the lookout for hot spots.

The Division of Forestry was back at the scene at 8 a.m. Wednesday to figure out what they need to do to continue to fight the flames.

The Turkey West fire that sparked Monday afternoon has so far burned 300 acres, according to firefighters.

Firefighters from the Division of Forestry and Miami-Dade are battling the flames.

Forestry officials believe a lightning strike caused the fire.

"We're now up there in the red area, which means if a fire gets started, it could move quite rapidly," said Scott Pietrich with the Division of Forestry. "If we get multiple lightning strikes out there without the sufficient rainfall, that's when we get wildfires started quite easily."

The brushfire was burning west of Florida Power & Light's Turkey Point Nuclear Plant. Pietrich said it took about 24 hours for the fire to spread.

"The vegetation's getting dryer, certainly the soil's dry, and we get these gusty winds, it can take embers and that's where we have a lot trouble with what we call 'spotting,' a fire will jump into an unburned area and take off and run again," said Pietrich.

The brushfire wasn't threatening any homes or buildings, but firefighters were keeping an eye on campers in Biscayne National Park in case they need to evacuate them.

The Huckabee Wildfire, which is burning in Collier County near Mile Marker 75, was partially to blame for the Florida Highway Patrol closing Alligator Alley and U.S. 27 for several hours Monday and Tuesday mornings.