Heavy rain not ‘nearly enough’ to tame two wildfires in drought-stricken Georgia

Heavy rain slowed the progress of two sprawling southern Georgia wildfires over the weekend, allowing crews to make some progress in containing the blazes that have destroyed more than 100 homes.Although the rain helped the firefighting efforts, it wasn’t “nearly enough to put the fires out” and crews responded to 10 new blazes throughout the drought-stricken state Sunday, the Georgia-forestry-commission" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="120857" data-entity-type="organization">Georgia Forestry Commission said on Monday.The biggest blaze, the Pineland Road fire, has scorched more than 50 sq miles (130sq km) and at least 35 homes in a sparsely populated and heavily wooded part of the state about 35 miles (56km) north of Florida, which is also dealing with wildfires. The area has been full of highly combustible dead trees and other vegetation since Hurricane Helene carved a destructive path northward in September of 2024.The second-biggest, the Highway 82 fire, has been burning since 20 April about 60 miles (97km) to the north-east. It has destroyed at least 87 homes and torched more than 35 sq miles (90 sq km), according to figures released on Monday. It is only 6% contained.“The fire basically doubled last night in size,” said Joey Cason, the Brantley county manager, in a Facebook post on Sunday. “It is a dynamic fire event that will be impacted by the wind.”Authorities believe the Highway 82 blaze was sparked by a foil balloon hitting live power lines. That created an electrical arc that ignited combustible material on the ground. They think the Pineland Road fire was started by sparks from a welding operation.An unusually large number of wildfires are burning this spring across the south-east. Firefighters have been battling more than 150 other wildfires in Georgia and Florida alone.Scientists say the threat of fire has been amplified by a combination of extreme drought, gusty winds, the climate crisis and dead trees and other vegetation.No fire deaths or injuries have been reported in Georgia. But in northern Florida, a Nassau county sheriff’s office volunteer firefighter, James “Kevin” Crews, died on Thursday evening after he had an unspecified medical emergency while suppressing a brush fire.