FARGO - The smoke is still lingering in the air, but the residents in the isolated Okefenokee Swamp town of Fargo are surprisingly upbeat. <br>
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That's because the fires are attracting a slew of firefighters to the area -- which means dollar signs for local businesses. <br>
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The manager of Quick Change convenience store, Sarah Ellis, said ``Everybody's joyful. I don't mind it. I sure don't.'' <br>
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Wildfires burning in the 400-acre Okefenokee Swamp prompted officials on Tuesday to temporarily close Stephen C. Foster State Park, one of the swamp's main entrances. The fires are within five to six miles of the park's boundary. <br>
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Ellis said business at Quick Change has increased about 25 percent since the park closed, adding that most of the increase has been with ice, bottled water and sports drinks. Most of those items are sold in the park's office. <br>
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One Fargo restaurant, the Sportsman Cafe, has seen business increase about 300 percent. The eatery, one of two in town, is normally staffed by two employees. But recently it has increased its staff to seven workers, who are each putting in 15-hour days. <br>
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Barbara Sills, a waitress and cook at the restaurant, said ``The longer it burns, the better the business.'' <br>
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Sills said workers spent Wednesday preparing 130 box dinners for fire crews along with cooking for another 30 firefighters who were planning to eat dinner at the restaurant's buffet. <br>
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Two wildfires are blazing in the swamp, which straddles the Georgia-Florida border. The larger fire has burned about 43,000 acres, according to Geoff Rockwell, assistant chief of the Georgia Forestry Commission. <br>
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Rockwell said the smaller fire, known as the Bay Creek Fire, has burned about 7,800 acres at the western edge of the swamp.
