Thursday, March 6, 2025–9:12 a.m.
-David Crowder, WRGA News-
We may have gotten a little rain this week, but there is still a risk of grass and woods fires in Northwest Georgia.
According to Seth Hawkins with the Georgia Forestry Commission, this is kind of an odd time of increased fire risk.
“Typically, this is not the time of year where we are super-dry with low humidities and see wildfires pop up,” he said. “However, we have had well over 200 new wildfire starts in the state over the last six or seven days. Those have occurred in different parts of Georgia. Obviously, in Northwest Georgia, which is where we are, is one of the hot spots. So, we have deployed a team covering this area to let folks know that, yes, we got some rain, but with the low humidities coming and the winds, it’s going to dry right back out.”
There is not a formal burn ban in effect, but Hawkins asks that people avoid burning leaves or anything in their backyards if they can, at least until conditions improve.
In addition to winds and humidity, another risk is what is known as “dry fuels”
“We talk about fuel in terms of the time it takes to get completely saturated and then completely dried out to be combustible again,” Hawkins said. “We have things as little as one-hour fuels—meaning one hour of rain gets that where it will not burn. One hour of being dried in the sun, it will burn. That works all the way up to 10,000-hour fuels. So, you’re big, giant old logs and stuff that take forever to go back and forth from saturated to combustible. While we did get that inch-and-a-quarter of rain in some spots, it was such a flash in the pan, it happened so quickly, and that wind moved right back in. A lot of those one-hour, ten-hour, and even 100-hour fuels have dried right back out and are combustible again.”
When conditions improve and you do burn, Hawkins advises against debris pile burning; instead, use an enclosed fire pod. Have a hose on hand, don’t burn near a structure, and do not delay calling 911 if the fire starts to get out of hand.
You can get more information through the fire prevention and suppression tab at gatrees.org
