State of emergency, burn bans issued in response to south Georgia wildfires 

After the Georgia Forestry Commission issued its first ever mandatory burn ban for 91 counties in the lower half of the state, Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency for those same counties due to two wildfires that are expected to grow and cause hazy conditions across the state at least until Saturday.

An active state of emergency order allows the governor to mobilize the Georgia National Guard troops to help with response and recovery.

“With much of Georgia remaining in extreme drought conditions, wildfires have already surpassed the state’s 5-year average and continue to spread,” Kemp said in a statement Wednesday.

The Georgia Department of Agriculture also issued a disaster declaration for 126 counties experiencing drought conditions, which will allow farm operators to be considered for Farm Service Agency emergency loan assistance.

“Extreme drought conditions are impacting thousands of farm families across our state – causing even more uncertainty and driving up costs on the farm at a critical time,” said Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper.

A combination of factors, such as a severe drought along with low humidity, are fueling the wildfires. One fire in Clinch County was estimated to be over 16,500 acres as of Wednesday and only 105 acres contained, and another in Brantley County was estimated to be about 5,000 acres with 15% of it contained. A cause has not been determined in either case.

Seth Hawkins, a public information officer for the Georgia Forestry Commission overseeing the wildfire in Brantley County, said nearly 50 homes have been lost and about a thousand homes are in danger, but no lives have been lost. Brantley County Sheriff’s Office issued an evacuation order for parts of the county affected by the wildfire.

“We are fighting, fighting this thing … We have people as far as Social Circle coming to help. It’s really cool to see everybody come together and attack this thing as a community, as a state, but we got our work cut out for us,” Hawkins said.

Don Thomas, a public information officer assigned to Clinch County, said Wednesday that no homes have been impacted there, where the wildfire is in the bays and swamps, making it hard to contain it.

Ty Vaughn, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Atlanta, said that hazy conditions are likely to remain in parts of the state until Saturday when rain is expected.

“As far as improvement goes, we do have a cold front that we’re expecting to move across the state Saturday, that’s going to bring our next shot of rain, and that should drastically improve air quality Saturday into Sunday,” Vaughn said.

Hawkins said that 90% of wildfires begin unintentionally, either by burning debris or by leaving campfires unattended. He also said that trailer chains that drag on the road can throw sparks onto grass on the side of the road. He said that even pulling over could cause a small grass fire that feeds into the woods from the exhaust fumes.

“It’s super duper dry, almost historic drought. Anything that can induce a spark into this dry fuel, it’s what we call grass and leaves and leaf litter and twigs, it’s fuel, essentially. Anything that can invite a spark into this environment with the high winds, the low humidity, no moisture, can induce a wildfire,” Hawkins said.