The Associated Press

AP Photo/J. Pat Carter A prison bus approaches a road block leading to the Metro West Detention Center in Miami, Monday, as a wildfire nears the prison and heavy smoke hangs overhead. 2,634 inmates are being evacuated.

MIAMI — Officials are evacuating a Miami jail that is in the path of a fire that has been burning for several hours.

Fire rescue workers have been battling the fire since 12:30 p.m. Monday. Lt. Elkin Sierra of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue says the winds changed direction late afternoon and are now toward Metro West Detention Center. The fire is about half a mile away from the jail.

Corrections spokeswoman Janelle Hall says the jail's 2,634 male inmates will be distributed among facilities in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Space is not expected to be a problem.

The area around the jail - in northwest Miami-Dade County - is sparsely populated.

Officials at the neighboring South Florida Reception Center, a state prison, refused to say whether they were evacuating.