A town hall was held in Sky Valley in northeast Rabun County Saturday afternoon to update residents on the status of the Big Ridge fire.
The town hall meeting marked a week to the day from the start of the fire in the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest northeast of Clayton. Officials told residents Saturday that they believe the fire was human-caused, but an investigation is still open into whether it was accidental or intentional.
The fire, so far, has burned over 1,900 acres of mountain forests, but fire crews have been able to keep it away from populated areas, namely Sky Valley, which officials said it was approaching before successful line breaks were performed on Thursday.
Now, the fire is spreading mainly south and southwest, and officials said it was burning at Rabun Bald as of Saturday's town hall. Jeff Sharpe, chief with the Southern Operations Gold Team that is now managing the fire control efforts, said how long the wildfire will continue to burn will largely depend on weather.
In response to one question asking if the fire could burn until the end of April, Sharpe said it was a possibility.
"It's not out of the range to have a fire burn those longer durations, particularly if drought conditions persist," Sharpe said. "However, we're at a time of the year right now where we've got precipitation in the forecast the next couple of days, and it looks like going into a more moistening atmosphere over the following week...It's something we'll continue to monitor."
Right now, officials say they do not have any containment of the fire. However, Sharpe said he's hoping projected rainfall will help change that soon.
"That's kind of something that the moisture will definitely help with," Sharpe said. "We are hoping that mother nature will provide us that gift and that opportunity...Let's keep our fingers crossed for copious amounts of precipitation."
The fire is currently entirely in Georgia, and officials said there is no current threat of it spreading into neighboring North Carolina or South Carolina, states which have also been dealing with wildfires recently.
While the fire has not yet impacted any populated areas, Rabun County officials are advising citizens to have a plan in place if that changes in the coming days or weeks. Rabun County Emergency Management and sheriff's office officials advised residents to consider prepping their homes to make a potential evacuation easier should it ever become necessary.
Preparations they proposed included:
- Pick up any debris or brush that are around your home
- Move any fuel sources possible, such as firewood stacks, away from your home
- Remove anything that may be blocking access to your driveway
Authorities also advised to have a plan of what items to pack if an evacuation becomes necessary.
U.S. Forest Service officials advised that they are publishing updates every morning, including on their social media pages. They advised that if the fire makes a sudden run towards a populated area, they will post additional updates.
