Huge plumes of smoke blanketed the Southeast on Wednesday as crews battled rapidly growing wildfires that destroyed more than 50 homes in Georgia and forced hundreds to flee, according to the Associated Press (AP) …. Some of the largest blazes were near the Georgia coast, while others were erupting in northern Florida, a state facing one of its worst fire seasons in decades, the AP reported ….
The Georgia Forestry Commission issued a burn ban for the first time in its history due to the dry conditions, the AP reported …. Southeastern Georgia has seen just 11 inches of rain since the beginning of September — almost 15 inches below normal, according to the National Weather Service ….
Brianna Elliott, a Georgia resident, said that she wishes she “had knew something more,” after finding her route back home blocked by the fires, and now fears that her home and her dogs are gone, according to the AP ….
Georgia’s two largest wildfires have burned more than 53 square miles, and crews responded to 34 smaller fires newly burning across the state on Wednesday, according to the Georgia Forestry Commission ….
The fast-moving Brantley County fire threatened roughly 1,000 homes Wednesday after destroying dozens a day earlier, according to the AP …. Joey Cason, the Brantley County manager, said that the fire grew by roughly six times in just a half day Tuesday, and that there were fires erupting “in the backyard and people taking off in the front yard” on Wednesday …. No major injuries have been reported so far, Cason said …. Cason asked that people “start praying for that right now” in reference to rain, according to the AP ….
Seth Hawkins, a spokesperson for the Georgia Forestry Commission, said that pine and hardwood forests in the region are helping charge the fires, and that swampy lowlands with thick layers of leaves and woody debris are “super flammable” when they dry out ….
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency for more than half of the state’s counties, according to the AP …. More people were told to evacuate from Brantley County on Wednesday afternoon, on top of the 800 evacuations previously, and another large fire that started in nearby Clinch County also prompted evacuations, the AP reported ….
Mike Reardon and his wife packed family photos and their dog, Molly Rose, along with new e-bikes, before leaving their Brantley County home, according to the AP …. Liz Reardon said that the fire was about a mile away, and a shift in the wind would put flames “in our backyard in a matter of minutes,” and that the home they built two years ago sits on land that her dad bought years ago, according to the AP ….
In Florida, firefighters battled more than 130 wildfires that burned 39 square miles, mostly in the state’s northern half, according to the AP …. Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson said that “Florida has got one of the worst fire seasons in maybe the last 30 or 40 years, or it’s turning out to be that way,” and that “We’ve been in drought for 18 months now all across the state” ….
The National Weather Service said that a dangerous combination of low humidity and breezy winds would keep the fire danger elevated Wednesday, according to the AP …. Smoke drifted to Atlanta, Savannah, Jacksonville, and into South Carolina, with the air quality in parts of south Georgia declining to the unhealthy category, the AP reported ….