At approximately 3pm on Sunday February 22, the Georgia Forestry Commission responded to the Charlton Highway 301 Fire in our county. Upon arrival, the fire was estimated at 100 acres. As of Monday morning, it was estimated at 100% contained and 650 acres were affected. This wildfire, that was caused by downed powerlines, ranks high among wildfires for Charlton County. Another fire was the Bugaboo Fire in 2007. It raged from April 2007 to June 2007. The Bugaboo, which was not actually named until it had blazed for nearly a month, started in the Okefenokee Swamp. Nearly 564,000 acres were consumed in Georgia and Florida, and 18 homes were destroyed. More than 3,300 firefighters from 44 states, Canada and Puerto Rico came in to battle the blazes.
Sunday’s fire stretched nearly 2 miles from Highway 301 to Highway 252 just north of Folkston. As many as 75 homes and approximately 150 outbuildings were within or near the fire footprint. There was confirmed damage to eight structures all outbuildings and no homes were damages. Assessments were still ongoing.
The GFC responded with a total of 13 tractor plows, 5 overhead personnel, 1 air attack, 1 type 2 helicopter Sunday night with additional resource arriving Monday morning, including six Type 6 engines, 4 dozers, and 8 tractor plows., air attack and the helicopter.
Local partners providing structure protection include Brantley, Charlton, Camden, Glynn, Ware, and Jacksonville and Nassau (FL) fire departments – Charlton County Fire Rescue, Nahunta Volunteer Fire Department, Hoboken Volunteer Fire Department, Hortense Volunteer Fire Department, Calvary Volunteer Fire Department, Waynesville Volunteer Fire Department, Hilliard Volunteer Fire Department, Callahan Volunteer Fire Department, Ware County Fire Department, Camden County Fire Rescue, Georgia Forestry Commission, Camden County Emergency Management, Camden County Sheriff’s Office, Georgia State Patrol, Georgia Department of Natural Resources ,Georgia Department of Public Safety and Georgia Department of Transportation. As well as local partners; Charlton County Sheriff’s Office, Folkston Police Department, Homeland Police Department, Charlton County Emergency Medical Service, and Charlton County Emergency Management.
As of 8:30 Monday morning a command post was set up on JM Jackson Rd and 252.
Chief C.L. Lewis of Charlton County wants to personally thank all units for assisting during the blaze.
