One traveling family barely made it out of the Florida Keys ahead of the brush fire. NBC6’s Julia Bagg reports.
A couple returning from a trip to the Florida Keys barely escaped the large brush fire burning in Southwest Miami-Dade.
Kathy and Richard Williams were driving back to Deerfield Beach after a daytrip to Islamorada, but they never imagined they'd be the last car out of U.S. 1.
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WATCH HEREAccording to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, fire units and air rescue responded after a call came in for the grass fire at 1:17 p.m. Tuesday near the 40800 block and Card Sound Road. Aerial video shows flames lapping at the vegetation, and officials shut down both directions of Card Sound Road and U.S. 1 to allow units to access additional water sources.
At first, Kathy said she thought the thick smoke clouds were just a rainstorm.
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"Within minutes we're on top of it and the flames were very, very close to us, and moving to us, and the entire car got super hot... almost like the fire was with you," she said. "Everyone in the car was flipping out."
Richard recalled the low visibility as they raced north against the fire.
"When the thick, thick black smoke came and obstructed our view it was hard to tell whether or not you're gonna crash into the person in front of you, you couldn't see at all," he said.
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Kathy's brother was at the wheel.
"We were all just telling my brother, 'Floor it, floor it, you gotta get past,' and, 'Do your New York driving, just go,'" she said.
But even in broad daylight, it was difficult to see anything.
"You could cut a knife through the smoke," Kathy said. "We couldn't see other than the blinking lights ahead of us."
They followed those emergency lights until the smoke cleared. At one point, a fire truck sprayed water on their minivan to help keep their vehicle cool.
"We're just so fortunate that we got out when we did," Kathy said.
All six family members arrived home safely.
There are no reported injuries or threats to nearby structures. The fire has burned around 3,600 acres and was 20% contained as of Wednesday morning.
Traffic on the 18-mile stretch started moving slowly on Tuesday night, but Monroe County Sheriff's officials advised motorists to avoid the area.
U.S. 1 southbound heading to the Keys was closed again on Wednesday but reopened, while Card Sound Road also remained closed Wednesday.
