Smoke from wildfires burning in western Miami-Dade County on Friday may have caused two car accidents that left one man dead and several others hospitalized.
The fires, sparked by lightning this week, continue to gobble acres of brush and sawgrass, though favorable easterly winds have left residences and the nearby Miccosukee Tribe hotel and casino untouched, Florida Division of Forestry spokesman Bob Rehr said.
Rehr said firefighters hope to contain the fires today, but the weather will continue to be dry, with only a 10 percent chance of rain.
Florida Highway Patrol officials are investigating whether poor visibility from smoke caused the accidents, which occurred within minutes of each other along a 200-yard stretch of Krome Avenue three miles north of Tamiami Trail.
In the first accident, a northbound motorcycle carrying two passengers crashed head-on into a flatbed tractor-trailer hauling a load of sod.
The two riders, a man and a woman, were airlifted to the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Medical Center. The male rider died en route to the hospital, and the woman is in critical condition.
Moments later, a three-car pile-up occurred when a southbound semi tractor-trailer slowed down because smoke obscured the roadway. A pickup and a Ford Expedition SUV rear-ended the semi.
Highway Patrol officials say the semi driver was unhurt, but the two other drivers were taken to the hospital in serious condition.
The victims' names were not immediately available.
''We still have to interview all those drivers to assess whether smoke was the cause,'' said Lt. Julio Pajon of the Florida Highway Patrol, ``but you could see fire from the roadway.''
Both crashes occurred as the Highway Patrol was closing a 13-mile stretch of Krome Avenue.
The street closure, the third in as many days, came because firefighters had set counter-fires along the avenue, Rehr said.
These man-made blazes contain fires by burning toward them, eating up fuel and brush.
The smallest of the three fires was contained Friday, but the two main fires, at NW 41st Street and the Miccosukee fire at SW 8th Street and Krome Avenue, are growing.
As of Friday evening, the 41st Street fire had reached Krome Avenue and had expanded to 700 acres, said Rehr.
So far, fires have consumed more than 4,200 acres of land.
Nearby power lines have prevented firefighters from using water drops from helicopters. Such high-powered jets of water could cause electrical arcs, making the lines explode, said Rehr.
Extra help arrived Friday as bulldozers and a brush truck arrived from Punta Gorda. Everglades National Park officials sent seven more firefighters and two more fire trucks to help forces on the scene.
''We hope we can get containment tomorrow,'' Rehr said.
