GAINESVILLE - If you were planning to do any outdoor burning today, you are out of luck --- and maybe until October.
The Hall County Fire Department has imposed a ban on outdoor burning which may last the rest of the week and until May 1, when a mandatory summer ban on outdoor burning begins in Hall and several other north Georgia counties.
Fire marshal Scott Cagle says the only exceptions are camp fires.
Cagle calls this a "proactive" move in response to the extremely dry conditions and is one that is being taken by a number of fire departments around the state, especially in light of the situation in southeast Georgia, where a wildfire continue to burn in the Waycross area. (See accompanying picture.)
Officials say schools in Waycross and Ware County will be closed again today because of concerns about smoke from that fire.
The schools have been closed since last Tuesday -- the day after the fire was started by a fallen power line that ignited tinder-dry trees near the refuge.
Officials say it is about 45 percent contained after burning some 56,000 acres. But they said Monday night they still had 23 miles of fire breaks left to be built.
Firefighters used bulldozers to widen fire breaks that were protecting the community of Manor from the fire, which is about ten miles southwest of Waycross and about five miles south of Manor. Eighteen homes have been destroyed.
No more evacuations have been ordered since about 1,000 people Waycross were forced to flee their homes last week. Authorities urged about 5,000 others to leave voluntarily. Some of the earlier evacuees are being allowed to return.
Flames spread into the Okefenokee Swamp last week and were burning Monday about 2,000 feet north of 407,000-acre Okefenokee refuge.
Ranger Shawn Gillette stressed that the swamp needs fire to burn vegetation that otherwise would become overgrown and convert the swamp into dry land.
(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)
Monday
October 14th, 2024
8:22AM
