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In NAHUNTA, Ga., the Southeast found itself under a thick veil of smoke on Wednesday as firefighters confronted fast-spreading wildfires. These blazes, fanned by drought and fierce winds, have already ravaged over 50 homes in Georgia, forcing hundreds of residents to evacuate.
Some of the most severe fires erupted near Georgia’s coastline, while others flared up in northern Florida, a region experiencing one of its most challenging fire seasons in recent history.
Although the exact cause of these wildfires remains unknown, the southern half of Georgia is suffering from extreme dryness. This prompted the state’s forestry commission to enforce a burn ban for the first time ever. Since September, southeastern Georgia has accumulated a mere 11 inches (28 centimeters) of rainfall, nearly 15 inches (38 centimeters) below the norm, according to the National Weather Service.
In this tinderbox environment, the fires advanced so swiftly that residents were caught off guard, receiving no prior warnings or alerts.
“I wish I had known more,” lamented Brianna Elliott. She had left her home on Tuesday, only to find her route back blocked by the inferno a mere 90 minutes later. “I would have turned around in that moment and gone home to get my animals before anything.”
She now fears that her home and her dogs are gone.
Georgia’s two biggest wildfires together have burned more than 53 square miles (137.3 square kilometers), and crews responded Wednesday to 34 smaller fires newly burning across the state, the state’s forestry commission said.
Dry timber feeds Georgia fires
The fast-moving Brantley County fire threatened roughly 1,000 homes Wednesday after destroying dozens a day earlier.
That fire grew by roughly six times in just a half day Tuesday, said Joey Cason, the county manager. There were fires erupting “in the backyard and people taking off in the front yard,” he said Wednesday.
So far no major injuries have been reported, Cason said.
The rural county is roughly midway between Georgia’s coastal beaches and the Okefenokee Swamp, dotted with livestock and fruit farms as well as thick stands of planted pines grown for timber.
Crews worked to create fire breaks and stop the flames from reaching populated areas. The biggest concern was gusting winds that could easily spread embers.
Authorities said rain is desperately needed. The area with the worst fires was in exceptional or extreme drought, the most dire levels, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
“If you could start praying for that right now, we’d be grateful,” Cason said.
Pine and hardwood forests in the region are helping charge the fires, said Seth Hawkins, a spokesperson for the Georgia Forestry Commission, and swampy lowlands with thick layers of leaves and woody debris are “super flammable” when they dry out.
The commission’s 30-day burn ban is for the southern part of the state.
FEMA announced the approval of grants for Georgia and Florida to battle the blazes.
More residents told to evacuate
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency for more than half of the state’s counties.
More people were told to evacuate from Brantley County on Wednesday afternoon, on top of the 800 evacuations previously. Another large fire that started in nearby Clinch County also prompted evacuations.
Mike Reardon and his wife packed family photos and their dog, Molly Rose, along with new e-bikes before leaving their Brantley County home.
The fire was about a mile away, and a shift in the wind would put flames “in our backyard in a matter of minutes,” he said.
The couple just built the home two years ago.
“It’s more than our house. It’s land that my dad bought years ago,” Liz Reardon said, fighting back tears. “It’s the most beautiful place in the world to me.”
Florida sees its worst wildfire season in decades
In Florida, firefighters battled more than 130 wildfires that burned 39 square miles (101 square kilometers), mostly in the state’s northern half.
“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,” state Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson said. “We’ve been in drought for 18 months now all across the state.”
Smoke blows into Atlanta and Jacksonville
The National Weather Service said a dangerous combination of low humidity and breezy winds would keep the fire danger elevated Wednesday.
Smoke drifted to Atlanta, Savannah, Georgia, and Jacksonville, Florida. The air quality in parts of south Georgia declined to the unhealthy category, meaning all people there might feel health effects.
Smoky conditions were expected to linger throughout the Atlanta area, according to the Atlanta-Fulton County Emergency Management Agency. The worst fires were more than 200 miles (322 kilometers) southeast of the city.
Smoke from Georgia fires also spread into South Carolina, according to its forestry commission.
The high fire risk was expected to continue each afternoon through Friday due to the very dry conditions, the weather service said.
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