Georgia wildfires fueled by drought and Hurricane Helene debris

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NAHUNTA, Ga. — Some of the destructive wildfires tearing through Georgia this week are being fed by more than drought alone, officials said: fallen trees and limbs scattered across parts of the South by Hurricane Helene in September 2024 have created extra fuel for new blazes to catch and spread. Blustery winds have also helped ignite and expand fires in Georgia and Florida, driving smoke into the wider region and leading to air quality warnings Thursday for places far from the flames.

Officials said the debris from Helene has stayed in place in parts of the woods where cleanup did not reach, and they linked that remaining material to rapid intensification of the fires. “There’s a ton of old Hurricane Helene debris down in the woods,” said Seth Hawkins, a Georgia Forestry Commission spokesperson. “It’s lying around, and it’s just a tinderbox out there.”

Near Georgia’s coast, conditions prompted more evacuations as a wildfire destroyed close to 90 homes and threatened additional properties. Residents were warned to leave as many as 200 homes, and the fire’s behavior remained fast and unpredictable as crews worked to contain it. Many of the people who fled said they were unsure what they could return to, with Denise Stephens telling officials she did not know whether her home was still standing after evacuating from the Brantley County fire area near Hortense.

Farther west, officials said Georgia’s biggest fire near the Florida state line doubled in size in less than a day. By Thursday, it had burned through a sparsely populated area reported to be twice the size of Manhattan, with imagery from the devastated areas showing charred vehicles alongside the remains of homes among blackened trees.

Brantley County officials described a mix of departures and holdouts as the fire continued to expand. Brantley County Sheriff Len Davis said he had visited areas on both sides of the fire and saw some residents in front yards using sprinklers while others left. County Manager Joey Cason also said Brantley County has less hurricane debris in its forests than some neighboring counties, even as the wildfire continued to push through dry areas.

Officials said it was not yet known how the wildfires started, but they emphasized how dry conditions across the bottom half of Georgia and northern Florida have left vegetation primed to burn. In Florida, firefighters were battling more than 130 wildfires, mostly in the state’s northern half, while Georgia responded to 34 new and relatively small blazes Wednesday, the forestry commission said.

Smoke drifted across a wide stretch of the Southeast, making air unhealthy Thursday for children and for people with lung or heart problems in cities as far as Columbia, South Carolina. A haze was visible over Atlanta’s skyline a day earlier, and officials said smoky odors were noticeable around the metro area.

Georgia Forestry Commission officials said Hurricane Helene swept across nearly 14,000 square miles of forestland statewide, striking areas where trees are grown for paper and lumber. After the hurricane, cleanup efforts included state funding of roughly $135 million to help private timberland owners remove fallen trees, and the Army Corps of Engineers hauled off millions of cubic yards of debris, Hawkins said—though he added that crews could not remove everything, especially in remote pockets of woods.

Hawkins said debris sometimes remains where people “don’t walk around too much,” and that in those locations, the downed material can be left in place. Officials said they were hoping for rain to help bring conditions under control. The National Weather Service forecast called for a 30% to 40% chance of showers or thunderstorms in the area of both big Georgia fires this weekend, warning that while showers could help, thunderstorms could also bring lightning capable of sparking more blazes.