Even though today is Thanksgiving, the firefighters battling the wildfires in Rabun, Towns and Fannin counties in North Georgia will not take the day off to celebrate.
In fact, of the thousands of crew members battling the blazes across the Southeast have come from many miles away to do a difficult job - some from as far away as Arizona, Oregon and California.
Kale Casey is the Public Information Officer with Pacific Northwest Team 3, the team battling the Rock Mountain Fire in Rabun County, and he said in a phone interview this week that members of the team he represents are from 25 different states. Casey said this is late in the season for wildfires, so it's unusual for team members to be away from home during the holidays.
"When you come to an area that's so friendly, though, where the people are so kind and welcoming and make it irresistible, you almost forget about home," Casey said.
Civic and church groups in the city of Clayton began serving Thanksgiving meals to crew members on Wednesday, hoping to give them a little taste of the holiday. Casey said teams members are thankful for the extra TLC, especially since they will be working long hours through the holiday.
"I don't want the public to have the impression that we're bringing folks off the line to have a nice meal," Casey said. "Now that being said, these locals and the churches and the citizens are so kind that I can pretty much guarantee that every firefighter will have some sort of to-go dinner to come home to at the end of a shift."
Casey pointed out that there's not much time to linger over a meal - firefighters are up and ready to go by 6 a.m. and then they're typically in the field until dark, working to contain a fire that is now more than 17,000 acres in size and just 30-percent contained (Status of fire as of 1 p.m. Wednesday, November 23.) Despite the difficulty of the fight, Casey said the firefighters are happy to do the job.
"You have to understand, it is our honor," Casey said. "Everywhere you go people say 'thank you,' they're appreciative. You can tell that they're stressed about what's going on, but they're incredibly supportive, and that makes all the difference."
Listen to more of Kale Casey's comments from WDUN's Afternoon News Wrap in the accompanying audio interview.
