Brush fires and smoke shut down road to Florida Keys

FLORIDA CITY, Fla. – Low visibility from several brush fires forced deputies in the Florida Keys to close Card Sound Road Monday night.

Around 9 p.m., deputies stopped all traffic into and out of Monroe County because of the smoke. By 11 p.m., deputes had reopened 18-Mile Stretch of U.S. 1. 

Card Sound Road had been closed for several hours Monday morning, but it reopened shortly after 2 p.m.

The smoke is coming from several brush fires that were reported in Florida City, one of which threatened a mobile home community over the weekend.

Miami-Dade firefighters were doing what they could Monday to keep nearby structures wet and no evacuations have been ordered.

At one point, authorities said a brush fire got within 10 feet of a structure, but no structures have been burned and no one has been injured. 

"It's basically creeping underground and flaring up, so periodically it will die down and then it will flare up," Scott Peterich, of the Florida Forest Service, said. "There is so much debris out there. It looks like there's some hurricane debris that's hard for us to get into because some of the trees have fallen over."

The brush fires have burned 90 acres so far and are 65 percent contained, authorities said.