Miami-Dade Safety and Health Committee Meeting - May 11, 2026
Miami-Dade Safety and Health Committee Meeting - May 11, 2026
The Miami-Dade Safety and Health Committee met on Monday, May 11, 2026, at 12:30 PM in Commission Chambers. The meeting began with an invocation and pledge of allegiance, followed by an update from Miami-Dade Fire Rescue on two active grass fires, a presentation from the Commission for Women on the annual CEDAW report, and discussion and votes on several agenda items. The committee forwarded all items to the full Board of County Commissioners with favorable recommendations.
Fire Update
- Fire Chief Ray Jadala reported on two large grass fires: the Max Road Fire near Chrome in Okeechobee, which threatened trailer parks but was contained by 5 PM, and the 172nd Avenue Fire in Florida City, which had grown to 300 acres as of 8 AM. No injuries or displacements occurred. Chief Jadala noted that this is the 12th large grass fire of the calendar year due to drought conditions. He advised drivers to avoid rubbernecking and residents to keep windows closed and recirculate air. Commissioners thanked the fire department and discussed public education campaigns on fire safety.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public signed up to speak. The reasonable opportunity to be heard was opened and closed with no comments.
Commission for Women CEDAW Report Presentation
- Josephine Novo, legislative chair of the Commission for Women, presented the annual CEDAW report. Key statistics included: 765 severe maternal morbidity cases per 1,000 hospitalizations (a 7.7% increase from 2022), 2,013 reported human trafficking cases (the second highest in Florida), with women representing 89.6% of sexual violence victims. Women also face a 12% pay disparity, earning $6,580 less per year on average. The report recommended creating a women's health subcommittee, implementing signage in women's restrooms with hotline numbers, and exploring procurement incentives to support maternal health. Commissioners discussed the need for disaggregated data by race/ethnicity and by industry for human trafficking, and urged the commission to address rising HIV cases among Hispanic and African American women.
Discussion Items
- Item 3A – Elderly Meal Services Prequalification Pool: Commissioner Lopez requested a list of vendors and service locations for her district. Administration committed to providing the list. The item was moved and unanimously approved.
- Item 3D – Head Start Program Grant and Modular Units Lease: Commissioner Bastien introduced an amendment to authorize a lease agreement for modular units (purchased with federal funds in 2013) with the School Board of Miami-Dade County. The amendment was read and accepted. Senator Garcia questioned why the county operates Head Start instead of the school system. Administration (Chief Burgos and Dr. Riestra) explained that the county provides comprehensive wraparound services and that the program is delegated to multiple agencies, including the school board. The item passed as amended.
Key Outcomes
- Agenda set with all items forwarded to the full Board of County Commissioners with favorable recommendations (5-0 votes).
- Item 2A (donation of firefighting equipment to Alcadia Municipal, Utica, Cundinamarca, Colombia) was co-sponsored by Senator Garcia, who requested notification when the equipment is delivered.
- Item 3B was corrected for a scrivener's error (prequalification pool number RTQ 01468) and approved.
- Items 3A, 3B (as corrected), 3C, and 3D (as amended) were all approved unanimously.
- The committee directed administration to provide Commissioner Lopez with the list of elderly meal vendors and to keep all commissioners informed on the fire equipment donation timeline.
- The meeting was adjourned after item 3D.
Meeting Transcript
Awesome colleagues, thank you. Um let's start with an invitation, folks. I think everybody uh is probably aware by now. We have two devastating fires that are occurring right now. Um, one up north um in the Broward area, um, one is uh down in the southern area. If we can just take a quick uh moment of silence and prayer uh for the brave men and women that are out there, not only fighting this fire, but making sure that we're all safe, and for any individual that uh may be um in harm's way to make sure that everybody is safe. Dear Lord, thank you for this wonderful day. Thank you for allowing us to be here. Thank you for our brave men and women who put their lives on the line to make sure that we are all safe. Please protect our county and our state in the Everglades as we are dealing with these devastating fires. Lord, please give our brave men and women in uniform the knowledge that they need, the bravery that they need, and the sanctification from you and your protection in your holy name we pray. Amen. And if we can have uh Senator Garcia lead us in the uh Pledge of Allegiance. We do have a presentation um today, but before we start uh to the county attorney's office, I would like um to get Chief Adala to come up and just give us an update as to what's going on with the uh current situation with MDFR, the fires that are happening up north. I know that they um are in the Broward line, um, but I believe you folks have been helping um for a while. And um what's happening down south. If you just give us a brief overview of where we're at, um let us know um what's going on and what folks at home can expect. Understood. Uh good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the commission, Ray Jadala Fire Chief from Miami Dade Fire Rescue. So it's been a very busy weekend for Miami Dade Fire Rescue this weekend, uh, coupled with the uh the boat explosion on Saturday with the mass casualty, the number of individuals that were uh injured, uh coupled with you know the numerous structure fires that we also had to respond to that are typical 9-1 calls. On Sunday, we were met with two large grass fiers. Uh the first one I'm gonna talk about is the one that was located what is called the Max Road Fire, which is located off of Chrome in Okechobi, a couple of miles west of Chrome. Uh that one uh started burning and it started threatening quite a few trailer parks. Uh we dispatched our resources along with Florida Forest uh service uh to render assistance. Uh the Broward County Sheriff's Office Fire Rescue also responded. Miami Dade Fire Rescue along with Broward Sheriff's Office started doing airdrops to uh begin to protect the uh the structures. Uh all in all, we had close to 15 fire trucks on that fire, um, along with Florida Forest uh service. Now that fire around 5 p.m. Miami Dade Fire Rescue did clear once the fire passed the uh trailer parks. Uh this afternoon or this morning at approximately 10 a.m. we went out to Max Fish Camp Trailer Park just to ensure that uh there is nothing going on. We conducted a sweep. Uh the fire is well past the uh Max Camp trailer park um and leading into the Everglades into Broward County. So as of right now, that fire is being handled by Florida Forest uh with no additional uh assistance that's uh required right now by Miami Dade Fire. The one that's currently going on is a different circumstance. This one is called the 172nd Avenue Fire. This one's located down at uh Florida City. It also started at the same time as the uh Max Road fire located out west. Now that fire, the one that's uh down south in Florida City, um, as of 8 a.m. It was 300 acres that were burning. However, knowing the circumstances with Florida City with that area, the brush sits you know upwards of 30, 35 feet high. And uh, you know, using the the history of last year, we requested additional resources early from the uh Florida Forest Service. This also included uh additional helicopters for airdrops, uh additional bombarders to cut past bombarders. What they do is they flatten down the sawgrass and and as such to uh basically create uh breaks for the fire from uh spreading. Um as of the right now, I actually returned from Florida City to give the briefing uh only to go back. Uh the current fire right now is threatening quite a few structures as the fire continues to burn. Uh Florida Forest did send additional resources. We have well over uh a dozen resources from Florida Forest. We have well over a dozen fire trucks on scene uh fighting this fire, protecting the structures.
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