Overview: The Highway 82 fire is located in Brantley County, Georgia and is impacting the communities of Atkinson and Waynesville. The fire began on Monday April 20th. The entire state of Georgia is in a drought with Brantley County being in an exceptional drought. Due to these drought conditions and hot and dry weather, this fire continues to be a dynamic, changing situation, challenging firefighting efforts.
The fire is 22,615 acres and 6% contained.
Resources:
410 Personnel
7 Type 1 Helicopters
1 Type 3 helicopter
4 crews
25 Type 1 engines
17 Type 6 engines
3 Tractor Plows
20 Dozers
Operations: With the break in the weather and the rainfall over the fire last night, firefighters will be assessing the area for fire weakened trees and snags that may be further stressed from the rainfall. Firefighters will be continuing to improve and widen containment lines north of Hwy 32, along Browntown Road and Hwy 110. Structure assessments north on Hwy 110 will continue. Containment lines will be constructed in and along these structures north on Hwy 110. Utility companies will be working around structures along Hwy 110, assessing and repairing their equipment and infrastructure. Containment line improvement continues along Fin Dig Road north to Hwy 32 and firefighters will be extinguishing any heat they find. Along Browntown Road, firefighters are strengthening and widening containment lines and engines crews are extinguishing hot spots.
Weather and Fire Behavior: Last night at about 8:00 pm, an isolated thunderstorm moved across the entire fire area. Rain gauges measured anywhere from 0.4-0.8 inches. It is important to know that this amount of rain will not extinguish the fire completely, but rather give firefighters a much needed break from the extreme fire behavior that had been seen to this point. Morning clouds will give way to afternoon sunshine as an area of high pressure moves in from the north. It will be cooler with highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s. Winds today will be from the northeast and out of the east tonight and Tuesday. No rain is expected through Wednesday but there should be good to excellent humidity recovery at night.
The wind shifting to the northeast will push on the western side of the fire along Hwy 110. This push will test some of the established lines and push the fire to the west on the northwest corner of the fire north of Fin Dig.
Evacuation Area: For Brantley County, the current evacuation area includes all areas and roads inside this boundary:
North: Highway 32
South: Highway 82
West: Highway 110
East: Post Road *All homes, roads, and properties within these boundaries are under evacuation. Current road closures can be found at Warn.PBS.org. For information about the evacuations and road closures in Brantley County, call the Brantley County Sheriff’s Office at 912-674-5878 or 912-674-0195. For evacuations in Wayne County, please visit Wanye County Emergency Management Facebook page for updates. For evacuations in Glynn County, please visit Glynn County Board of Commissioners Facebook Page.
Community Support: The American Red Cross shelter in Brunswick, located at 100 Genoa Martin Drive at the Selden Park Complex, is open for evacuees and will also be providing an air-conditioned mobile unit to house small pets (dogs/cats) in crates inside the unit. Bedding and crates can be provided. Georgia Department of Agriculture has designated locations identified on their website for large animals. Local day shelters available at Nahunta Methodist Church and Southside Baptist Church. Pets are only permitted at the Red Cross Shelter in Brunswick.
Donations: For affected community members, Brantley Gas, 114 Satilla Ave, Nahunta is accepting donations to include new or gently used clothing, hangers, hygiene items, and empty totes with lids. H & S Haulers, 125 Industrial Park, Nahunta is accepting nonperishable items and pet food. Brantley County Family Connections, 10305 Main Street, Nahunta is also accepting donations.
Safety: Brantley County mandatory curfew from 8:30 P.M. to 6:30 A.M. will remain in effect through the duration of this incident. There is a burn ban in place for all counties in south Georgia. Although there was rain over the fire area last night, the entire region is still in a drought and all residents are asked to continue to follow the burn ban in place.
Closures: Georgia Department of Transportation and Georgia State Patrol are closely monitoring the smoke and fog conditions along roadways to maintain public safety along the highway. There is the potential for intermittent closures of Hwy 82 if visibility conditions deteriorate. Additionally, there are a significant number of road closures around the fire impacted area. Please heed all road closure barricades and direction from law enforcement on scene.
There is a
temporary flight restriction (TFR) over the fire area to avoid conflict between personal aircraft and firefighting efforts. This includes all recreational and professional unmanned aircraft (drones). If you fly, we can’t.
