Despite Autumn rain in parts of southeast Georgia, fire officials are worried about smoldering flames that may resurface later in the season or in the spring, spurring new wildfires, according to a report in theAtlanta Journal-Constitution(http://bit.ly/u1WhIB).
Out in the tangled expanses of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, little rain fell — not enough, certainly, to extinguish persistent wildfires that have burned more than 309,000 acres in the past six months. The flames have gone underground, fueling fears that the fires will smolder through the winter, reappearing in the stroing. As many as 30,000 acres may be smoldering under topsoil and downed trees, fire officials estimate. In some places, the flames have burned six feet deep, producing an occasional smoky plume to remind residents that an unwanted visitor has not gone away.
Southeast Georgia is in a drought. Forecasters say the region averages slightly more than 50 inches of rain annually; since last November, it’s had about 38. Dry conditions may be even more critical in the refuge, where fires can alter weather patterns. Firefighters say the Okefenokee needs a six- to eight-inch “rain with a name” — a tropical storm or hurricane — to permanently extinguish the wildfires.
In the past few months, thousands of people from across the country have come to fight flames burning across the 403,000-acre refuge. The federal government has spent more than $50 million to keep the fires from spreading from federal land to private property ringing the preserve. Those efforts have worked: No homes or businesses have been lost in the fires, and no one has died in them.
Read more about the wildfires and firefighters’ efforts to combat them at http://bit.ly/u1WhIB.
