"Probably over the weekend and into next week, the potential for it to escape is very high," said Frank Sorrells, district ranger for the Georgia Forestry Commission. "We're gearing up for that."
Light rain over the vast swamp Friday slowed the fire's growth but wasn't nearly wet enough to extinguish it.
The blaze began April 28 when a lightning strike ignited dry vegetation in the southwestern part of the swamp. Severe drought has left trees and brush dry as tinder in the Okefenokee, enabling the fire to spread rapidly in barely more than a week.
The fire's growth prompted rangers Friday to close the refuge to overnight campers, though hiking trails and kayak excursions are still open to day-trippers. Stephen Foster State Park, which occupies land in the western Okefenokee, was also closed to the public.
The blaze had spread across an estimated 16,200 acres - more than 25 square miles - by Friday morning, said Art Webster, supervisory ranger for the Okefenokee refuge. That's still a small fraction of the swamp's 438,000 acres, where periodic fire is needed to keep the swamp from becoming overgrown and converting to uplands.
"It's doing its job like a prescribed fire inside the swamp right now, but we really don't want it to get out," Webster said.
The flames by Friday had spread to within about 3/4 mile or less of the Okefenokee's western boundary with Georgia's Clinch County, Webster said.
The nearest town, Fargo, is more than 7 miles west of the swamp's edge. But in between is vast timber acreage, mostly pine, owned by private companies.
A team of more than 50 firefighters has been tasked for the past week with fortifying fire control lines at the swamp's edge. Sorrells said reinforcements are being called in and he expects firefighters to number more than 100 in coming days.
To escape the swamp's western boundary, the wildfire would have to jump a dirt path that's been cleared of trees and other fuels to a width of 50 to 100 feet, Sorrells said. However, he said, conditions in the swamp have been so dry that stronger winds have been able to carry flaming embers 200 feet or more. Those embers spread the fire by igniting when they land.
Fargo Mayor Robbie Lee said thick smoke has been wafting off-and-on into the town of 330 depending on the winds. Officials are posting an updated map of the fire and other developments each day at a local gas station to help residents stay up to speed. Firefighters have been making the rounds of elderly residents' homes to make sure their roofs and yards are clear of leaves and dry pine needles that can ignite.
Lee said residents aren't nearly as anxious as they were in 2007, when a vast wildfire consumed more than 500,000 acres and threatened Fargo and other communities around the swamp.
"It's still way too early for that," Lee said. "I wouldn't say they're worried. They're just getting prepared."
http://accesswdun.com/article/2011/5/238361