More than 2,000 ordered to leave as fire advances
ST. GEORGE, Ga. — The wildfire burning for weeks in south Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp grew so close that Mason Pair could see its orange glow through the trees, the large flakes of ash raining down around his home in St. George.
Facing an evacuation order, Pair and his wife packed up their valuables and had a ladder standing by to put sprinklers on their roof Monday. But like many in the small community of St. George, population 2,000, near the Georgia-Florida line, they weren’t ready to leave everything to the mercy of the flames burning less than 3 miles from town.
“It’s a little unnerving,” said the 26-year-old resident. “But the flames are going to have to push people out of here.”
Emergency officials in south Georgia’s Charlton County ordered a mandatory evacuation Sunday for all of St. George and for nearby Moniac, small rural communities on the southeastern edge of the Okefenokee Swamp.
The fire was sparked by lightning on April 6 inside the vast Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. The blaze posed little threat to people or homes until Saturday, when strong winds pushed the flames across the fire breaks plowed along the refuge perimeter. As of Monday, the fire had burned 210 square miles.
Pair said perhaps half of his neighbors had heeded the weekend order to evacuate. Officials weren’t forcing people to leave their homes, but were urging them to get out before the fire gets any closer, said Susan Heisey, supervisory ranger for the Okefenokee refuge.
“The accumulated moisture in the vegetation is at recordbreaking lows right now,” said Heisey, a spokeswoman for the command team fighting the blaze. “These fuels, they’re getting one little piece of ash and the fire’s just picking up and moving.”
More than 600 firefighters and support personnel were battling the fire Monday. Helicopters dumping water and tanker planes spraying retardant managed to keep the fire from spreading to homes in St. George over the weekend.