Vast Georgia wildfire stalls for days after rain

SAVANNAH — A vast wildfire near the Georgia-Florida state line has sputtered and stalled for days after modest rainfall slowed the once-raging blaze, giving firefighters their best chance yet to stop the flames from advancing near the southern edge of the Okefenokee Swamp.

The multi-agency team fighting the fire said Friday the total burned area stood at 238 square miles (616 sq. kilometers) — a figure that had barely budged since Sunday. That’s after 2.5 inches (6.4 centimeters) of rainfall hit the fire last weekend, slowing its burn rate to a crawl, at least temporarily.

“We’re feeling very fort unate,” s aid Susan Heisey, supervisory ranger for the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and a spokeswoman for the firefighting team. “The rain obviously did help to dampen and min- imize the fire activity. But as the fuels continue to dry, they are seeing smoke and increased fire activity each afternoon.”

The fire was considered 60 percent contained Friday evening, according to a news release from the firefighting team, compared with just 17 percent last Sunday. Heisey said the containment was greatest along the fire’s s outhern perimeter, where fighters had focused their efforts to spare small communities near the swamp’s edge.

A li ghtning st r i ke sparked the fire April 6 inside the Okefenokee refuge, where drought conditions and gusty winds caused the flames to spread rapidly. While more than three-fourths of the charred acreage is undeveloped public land, flames escaped the southeast corner of the swamp May 6 and raged toward the small Georgia communities of St. George and Moniac. Emergency officials ordered more than 2,000 residents to evacuate.