CLAYTON — Firefighters from Rabun County, supported by those from throughout Northeast Georgia, are assisting the U.S. Forest Service as it works to contain wildfires in the county.
As of Saturday morning, the Rock Mountain Fire grew to 2,606 acres, with USFS personnel conducting some back burning to protect homes and other structures in the area of Nichols Branch Road and Coleman River Road. As a result, no structures were lost.
On Saturday, Rabun County firefighters were joined by five Demorest firefighters, four Habersham County firefighters and about 10 Stephens County and Toccoa firefighters.
"As far as the fires go, of course we took the initial call, made the initial attacks on both the fires, the first one around noon on the ninth in the Satolah area, Highway 28 South," said Rabun County Assistant Fire Chief Justin Upchurch. "They made the initial attack, then of course turned it over to the U.S. Forest Service. Same way around 4 o'clock that same evening when the first calls came out for the Tallulah River Road. We made the initial attacks on the fire, did what we could and then turned it over to U.S. Forest Service.
"After that, we've been pretty much functioning in a support role for the Forest Service," Upchurch said. "They've called us numerous times to stay with houses. There have been several houses that we've pretty much sat with around Coleman River for 24 hours plus, so we've been using our guys for that."
Otherwise, the department has been running the calls it normally responds to in the county. That included three structure fires in a 24-hour period.
"In a normal time, three structure fires within 24 hours that were all actually working structure fires is an oddity in Rabun County," Upchurch said. "So to compound three structure fires with decreased manpower and guys that were already tired that had been out all night working at these forest fires was a pretty tough challenge."
Fortunately, Rabun County has a large number of volunteer firefighters and search and rescue volunteers who are willing and able to respond when needed.
"We are blessed," Upchurch said. "We run at, on the high side, around 160 volunteers," Upchurch said. "These men and women are taking the time out. A lot of them have called in to work. We're blessed that some of them actually are their own bosses, so they can take off. They're pulling shifts. We're working on a schedule with 12-hour shifts and the volunteers where they're having to stay with these houses are pulling a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. and a 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. shift. We're running about 10 people per shift to take care of these houses. I can't say enough for the volunteers, I can't say enough for what they've done for the county and for the sacrifices they're making."
Some Rabun County homes were evacuated as a result of the wildfires.
"The initial evacuations were not mandatory for the Coleman River area and the Nichols Branch area," Upchurch said. "Not everybody took the evacuation. Some decided to stay. I believe we had about 19 people that evacuated, and I don't know that anyone stayed in the shelter that we had set up."
A shelter was established at Liberty Baptist Church, 2206 Bridge Creek Road, Tiger, at the corner of Bridge Creek and Davis Gap roads. Displaced residents have access there to shelter, bedding, food and necessary supplies.
But evacuations may not be over for Rabun County. Pre-evacuation notices were issued for the Plum Orchard community on Saturday, according to information from the USFS.
"I do know from EMA that they have started blanketing the area that I guess the Forest Service feels is the most prone for possible evacuation," Upchurch said. "We have been handing out the Forest Service pre-evacuation notice, and that pretty much is just explaining to the people that an evacuation is possible."
The notice includes how an evacuation would be accomplished, including preparations residents should take now to be ready should they need to leave quickly.
Tallulah River Road (Forest Service Road 70) is closed at the intersection of Persimmon Road. Access is restricted to residents and essential fire personnel only.
USFS officials ask all non-residents to stay away from the Rock Mountain Fire, especially near Coleman River Road, Nichols Branch Road and Tallulah River Road, because onlookers are preventing first responders and firefighters from doing their jobs in the most safe and efficient manner.
Also on Saturday, USFS officials said they expected to close a portion of the Appalachian Trail for the safety of hikers.
While not in Rabun, another larger fire continues to burn in the Cohutta Wilderness Area on the Chattahoochee National Forest between Blue Ridge and Eton. That fire reached 16,936 acres Saturday and has 200 assigned personnel, four crews, two helicopters, eight engines and two dozers.
