South Georgia fires: ‘Even inside our house, you can smell the smoke’

The Pineland Road Fire is burning 17 miles to the south of Homerville, the county seat here, in this sparsely populated part of the Peach State between the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Valdosta. The fire began Saturday. By Wednesday it stretched across more than 16,000 acres. Only about 10% of the blaze has been contained.

It’s not the only fire in South Georgia, along with blazes in Florida, sending smoke across the state while threatening communities closer to the flames. In Blakely County, inland from Brunswick on Georgia’s coast, the Highway 82 Fire began Monday. It had grown to 5,000 acres and was only 15% contained as of Wednesday. Four dozen homes have been lost and another 1,000 threatened.

State of Emergency for nearly 100 counties

Gov. Brian Kemp declared a State of Emergency on Wednesday for 91 of Georgia’s 159 counties in response to the ongoing wildfires in South Georgia.

Most of the state is under an extreme drought, with parts of South Georgia under an exceptional drought. Such conditions led the Georgia Forestry Commission to sign a burn ban Wednesday for counties below metro Atlanta as crews battle blazes north of Jacksonville and west of Savannah. The state of emergency allows for the National Guard to be deployed to areas affected by wildfires.

In Homerville, population 2,300, Lieupo stopped by Heritage Builders Supply Wednesday afternoon and visited his cousin, Russell Lieupo, who is an assistant manager at the hardware store.

“We ain’t scared right now,” Russell Lieupo, 69, said. “If it gets about 2 miles from you, then you get scared.”

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Closer to the Pineland Road Fire, near the border of Echols and Clinch counties, in the tiny community of Withers — population six — flecks of ash swirled in the brownish air late Wednesday afternoon.

As forestland burned within 10 miles, a boy outside a stately country house with wooden siding hosed down its eaves in hopes of warding off embers.

A few miles south along the Suwannoochee Creek, emergency workers unloaded a trailer full of bottled water and stacked it on a patio outside the Fruitland Church of God. In the distance on a dusty dirt road, fire truck lights blazed red.

At the church, after helping unload the bottled water, Andrew Nelson, Clinch County’s director of emergency management, said fires across the region had residents understandably on edge.

“You don’t know which way the wind’s gonna blow,” Nelson said. “We can’t control it.”

Nelson said so far there had been no evacuations in his county. “Thankfully the wind shifted before it got to that point.”

Smoke wafts north to Macon, Atlanta

The smoky haze traveled north Wednesday to cities including Macon and Atlanta, where the air quality reading hovered at “moderate” levels most of the morning and spiked briefly to an “unhealthy” reading around noon, according to the U.S. Air Quality Index. At that elevated level, some — especially those with respiratory issues, children and older adults — should reduce their exposure and avoid taxing outdoor tasks.

Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)

Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)

Travel along I-75 nearing Valdosta was not impeded, but there were emergency signs posted near the town of Adel warning motorists of “Smoke-Fog Ahead.”

Firefighters navigate shifting winds in Clinch County

Firefighters from across the region have pitched in to help. At least 89 personnel are working to establish and strengthen fire lines around the Clinch County blaze while new fires continue to be identified nearby.

Chief Leslie Bateson of the Argyle Volunteer Fire Department helped battle the Pineland Road Fire into the wee hours of Wednesday.

“It’s scary, but that’s what firemen do,” he said. “We’ve got a tone on our radios that (tells us) to get out. That went off three times last night.”

Bateson said that as of Wednesday evening firebreaks had been plowed in tree lines to try and contain the spread. “If it comes (our way) tonight, we’ve got a real good chance of it not going anywhere,” he said.

In Homerville, as the wind shifted, the sky above the town turned blue Wednesday afternoon after being cloaked in smoke earlier in the day. Another shift in the wind could change that again quickly.

Fires aren’t uncommon around here. Parts of Clinch County were torched by the Bugaboo Fire, which burned more than 500,000 acres across South Georgia and North Florida in 2007. Another major wildfire affected the county in 2017.

The National Weather Service said most of the state is under high fire danger conditions, meaning any fire that develops could spread quickly. More than 90% of the state is under drought conditions, the most in nearly 20 years, it added.

Rain is expected Saturday, though it’s not guaranteed all of Georgia will see it before the end of April.

First responders scramble in Brantley County

Near Georgia’s coast, the wildfire in rural Brantley County shrouded Brunswick, 30 miles to the east, in dense smoke and haze Tuesday, with reports of less than 100 feet of visibility. The air improved in the city Wednesday as the wind shifted.

First responders from more than a dozen counties and Georgia Forestry Commission professionals have helped Brantley County emergency management build and extend fire lines in the heavily forested areas. The blaze was considered 75% contained at one point on Tuesday before shifting winds pushed the blaze in a new direction.

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Brantley County’s chief administrator, Joey Cason, noted the fire grew from 700 acres to more than 4,000 within hours of the wind change. He said the rapid spread of the fire resulted in emergency crews rescuing residents from the front porches of their homes as the flames approached.

The wildfire continued to spread west to the banks of the Satilla River on Wednesday in light wind conditions blowing from the southeast. Emergency crews are concerned that the blaze could jump across the river and consume timberlands to the west.

State Sen. Mike Hodges, a Republican from Brunswick, represents the area and said the conditions are ripe for the blaze to grow. He noted smaller fires burning in bordering counties such as Ware and Pierce.

“As long as we have this dry spell, I’m afraid we’ll see more of this,” Hodges said. “What is this part of Georgia if not timber? It’s heartbreaking to see it happen but heartwarming to see the help Brantley County is receiving from neighboring counties.”

There were 25 people in shelters on Wednesday and “more are expected,” said Chuck White, Brantley County’s director of emergency management. That wouldn’t include people who left the county or are staying with family or friends in less-affected parts.

The blaze has stirred memories of the last large-scale wildfire to sweep through the area, the Sweat Farm Road Fire of 2007. That wildfire started in Ware County, just west of Brantley, before merging with the Bugaboo Fire, burning for months.

‘Weird and eerie’ in Homerville near Valdosta

In Homerville, about 35 miles northeast of Valdosta, Thomas Holloway described the atmosphere as “weird and eerie.”

“You go outside and it smells like somebody’s burning something right in a nearby backyard,” Holloway said. “Even (inside) our house, you can smell the smoke.”

Holloway, pastor at Free Will Baptist Church in Homerville and a school bus driver, has helped lead efforts to collect supplies for firefighters. He has also guided groups praying for rain.

“It’s just sitting out there and you’re wondering if it’s coming or not or if it’s going to go somewhere else,” Holloway said. “At the same time, you’re worried about everybody else that’s in the path, worried about your friends and your church family.”

— Staff writer Caroline Silva contributed to this report.