Honey Prairie Fire Complex: 286,698 acres, 70% contained
Sweat Farm Again Fire: 19,169 acres, 75% contained
Racepond Fire: 20,934 acres, 72% contained
Firefighters continue to mop up and widen firelines on the Sweat Farm Again, Racepond, and Honey Prairie Complex fires. Racepond resources continue to provide structure protection at Okefenokee Swamp Park. Some parts of Sweat Farm Again received 1.6 inches of rain Wednesday and Racepond about 0.75 inches.
At approximately 6:00 PM on Wednesday, June 29, Georgia Forestry Commission and Camden County firefighters responded to a fire in Camden County north of Woodbine on the east side of I-95. The highway was closed for less than an hour due to smoke on the road. The fire had been contained at approximately one acre on Tuesday, June 28, but jumped fire breaks today due to re-burn. The highway was re-opened before 7:00 PM and the fire was taking significant rain. A strike team of tractor plows was requested for mop-up on Thursday.
The Honey Prairie Fire Complex in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge benefitted from scattered showers and heavy cloud cover and did not grow significantly for the third day in a row. According to Incident Meteorologist Coleen Decker, “We’ll have warming and drying beginning on Friday and continuing through the weekend and should see a more seasonal pattern resuming on Monday for a chance of thunderstorms each afternoon.”
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge remains closed at this time, and will remain closed through the holiday weekend. Refuge and fire managers will begin evaluating changes in those closures as the fire danger to the public decreases.
Ware, Camden, and Pierce Counties have issued bans on personal use fireworks. Brantley, Clinch and Charlton Counties are discouraging the use of personal fireworks. The public fireworks display has been cancelled for Brantley County.
Cooperators: Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge; Georgia Forestry Commission; Florida Division of Forestry; U.S. Forest Service; Greater Okefenokee Association of Landowners (GOAL); Georgia Emergency Management Agency; Rayonier; Superior Pine; Langdale; GDOT; GSP; FLDOT; Georgia DNR; Georgia Aviation Authority; Georgia National Guard; Georgia DOC; County Fire Departments; Toledo Manufacturing Company; Charlton, Ware and Clinch Counties; and the Cities of Folkston and Homerville.
Closures: All entrances into Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge are closed. All visitor activities are suspended until the threat of fire is over. For status updates on visitor activities contact: Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, 912-496-7366; Okefenokee Swamp Park, 912-283-0583; or the Stephen C. Foster State Park, 912-637-5274.
The Georgia Fire Information Center will be open from 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. daily to help assist the public and media with up to date information on all fires across Southeast Georgia and Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Please contact us at 912-496-2566 or [email protected].
07-01-11
13:30 hrs