Tim Roberts watched planes fly
through dense smoke in the hazy sky above the city of Nahunta most of the day
Monday.
With winds gusting to 30 mph and
higher, he was unwilling to gamble that firefighters with the Georgia Forestry
Commission would be able to get the forest fire just north of the Brantley
County town under control before it reached his home.
He stayed on his property, hoping to
help if he could, but sent his wife, Lynda, her three pomeranians, and her
sister, Nancy Ann, to a friend’s house on St. Simons Island.
City officials, concerned the fire
would reach downtown, had already called for a mandatory evacuation of a number
of residences.
“It’s kind of an eerie feeling when
somebody says they’re evacuating the area for your safety,” said Roberts, after
sheriff deputies and Georgia Forestry officials asked him to leave.
Smoke saturated the air around the
property on which he, his wife and sister live in two trailers.
“I don’t want to start over again,”
said Roberts, 43.
He stayed, equipped with a garden
hose, hoping to stop a small hot spot from turning his yard and house into
charred rubble.
While waiting, he handed out bottled
water and roasted peanuts to volunteer firefighters as they passed his land,
enroute to the fire. He also offered them use of his well water.
“I wanted to see if there was
anything I could do,” Roberts said.
The ones he offered refreshment to
were among 85 firefighters from seven surrounding counties who amassed near
downtown Nahunta. Among them were Glynn County firefighters and volunteer
squads.
Glynn
County firefighters fill their trucks with water while a
wildfire burns west of downtown Nahunta Monday. (Photo by
James Nix/The Brunswick News News)
|
Their job was to contain the fire if
it reached the county’s major commercial district.
All were on standby while the Georgia
Forestry Commission battled the blaze with two helicopters and nine tractors.
The fire was first reported to the
Nahunta Fire Department at 2:59 p.m. after having started inside KneeKnockers
Hunting club in KneeKnockers Swamp.
By 6:15 p.m., it had spread into the
west side of Brantley County, covering almost 2,000 acres. Firefighters did not
know what caused the blaze.
More than 40 residents who were
evacuated from their homes congregated in the gym of Nahunta Elementary School,
where volunteers from the American Red Cross were ready to help.
No injuries or fatalities were
reported as of Monday evening.
Andrew Altman, operating officer of
the Brantley Emergency Management Agency, said the last big fire the county had
was about four years ago.
Monday evening, he was concerned
about the future.
“We’re worried now about protecting
structures from the fire,” Altman said. “It’s hard to control (fire) when
there’s this much wind.”
