Key Largo, United States - March 18, 2025 Key Largo, United States - Firefighting helicopters buzzed through thick smoke clouds above a ferocious brush fire in Key Largo on March 18, a wild scene caught on video by X user Maksim Khoziaikin. "We’re stuck in Key Largo. Both roads to Miami are blocked by the fire," he moaned. The inferno, blazing since last Wednesday, has devoured 2,000 acres and is just 20% contained, whipped up by dry weather and fierce winds, says Michelle Danielson of the Florida Forest Service. Both U.S. 1 and Card Sound Road, the only routes tying the Florida Keys to mainland Miami-Dade County, were slammed shut Tuesday afternoon. U.S. 1 crept open by evening, but Card Sound Road stayed locked Wednesday morning, with Monroe County officials mum on when it’ll budge. Traffic snarled along the 18-Mile Stretch into the Keys, turning +turning Florida City into a gridlock hellscape straight out of Hurricane Irma’s 2017 playbook. Drivers were gobsmacked. Bennett Lessmann, a 39-year-old Boca Raton attorney bound for Marathon, stared at smoke plumes miles off on Florida’s Turnpike. "You can’t tell where the fire is," he said. Tom Richards, 77, and mates Ronnie and Patsy Boggess, 82 and 80, got stuck in Florida City after a doctor dash. "They closed the damn road right as we got here," Richards raged. Spring breaker Cody Hinkle, 25, from Kansas City, lit a fag and shrugged. "I thought it was just clouds," he said coolly. The National Weather Service flashed fire warnings Monday across Miami-Dade and beyond, blaming low humidity and no rain. "Perfect conditions for brush fires," said Erika Benitez of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, telling folk with breathing woes to stay inside. Smoke blanketed the air, choking travelers caught in the fiery snarl-up.