Brunswick and Glynn County firefighters attempt to dampen vegetation Friday to slow the spread of a wildfire.  (Photo by Bobby Haven / The Brunswick News  News)

Community, volunteers rally against wildfires

WAYCROSS – Capt. Randy Mobley of the Brunswick Police Department and Deputy Chief Jim Cochran of the Glynn County Fire Department have spent more time in Ware County this week than they have at home.

Berrien County firefighters, from west of Waycross, take a break Friday at the wildfire command center at Ware County High School.  (Photo by Bobby Haven / The Brunswick News  News)

That is because with over 25 firefighters and volunteers from Glynn County helping battle the wildfires that have ravaged southeast Georgia since Monday, both have at the frontline of the containment battle.

“Today it’s been kind of quiet, but the past few days it’s been a lot more smoke and a lot more fire than we’re used to on a normal day,” Mobley said.

“There are a lot of guys out here right now that are surrounded in smoke and fire.”

By Friday, the fire had worked its way toward the Okefenokee Swamp, spreading and advancing quickly through the grass and trees.

To Ware County residents, the week has been anything but routine.

“It’s horrible – surreal,” said Cathy Hickox, a volunteer who on Friday was passing out breakfast sandwiches to emergency workers. “(The wildfires) have been something we never expected.”

If there is any one bright spot in all the haze generated by the wildfires it’s a better sense of community.

Hickox, who has friends and family who have lost homes, has seen it. She has seen neighbor helping neighbor.

“I’m proud to see Waycross pulling together the way it has,” she said.

Hickox was just one of hundreds of volunteers pouring into the area. Many of those eager to offer assistance found their way to the parking lot of the Ware County High School, where they helped staff a temporary staging area for off-duty firefighters.

Firefighters from Pierce County, east of Waycross, help fight a blaze Friday   (Photo by Bobby Haven / The Brunswick News  News)

It is taking an entire region – up and down Georgia’s coast – to respond to the natural disaster.

No one group understands this better than the American Red Cross.

Rita Brookshire, emergency services director of the Brunswick-based Southeast Georgia Chapter of the Red Cross, said the region has responded with an outpouring of support for firefighters and for people who have lost their homes.

Red Cross volunteers are flowing into the community from everywhere – from Camden County, Savannah, Jekyll Island and every community in between.

“Whatever it takes, that’s what we do,” Brookshire said.

The fires have already turned the lives of residents in Ware County upside down.

Ware County officials said Friday that only 35 percent of the fire, reportedly sparked by a tree limb that fell onto a power line, was positively under control by fire squads.

Firefighters take a break Friday at the command center at Ware County High School.  (Photo by Bobby Haven / The Brunswick News  News)

Volunteers assemble food and drinks Friday at the wildfire command center at Ware County High School.  (Photo by Bobby Haven / The Brunswick News  News)

Another 65 percent had yet to be contained.

Eric Mosley, a spokesperson for the Georgia Forestry Commission, which is coordinating fire-fighting efforts, said he has more than 100 volunteers and paid personnel working around the clock to fight the flames.

What they’re witnessing may be history, though it’s the kind they could do without.

“People always talk about the fire of (1955) that was of this scale, but this is one of the largest that most of our firefighters have ever seen,” Mosley said.

The fault may lie with Mother Nature. She’s been more than just a little stingy with precipitation.

“We haven’t had rain in months, of substantial size,” said Mosley.

The dryness is not the only handicap. High and gusty winds have been a factor as well, Mosley said.

No one can predict how much longer the fires will rage. The one thing they do know is that until the end comes, normal life in Ware County will remain on hold.

No one knows that better than Joseph Barrow, former principal of Glynn Academy and current superintendent of Ware County schools. Barrow said elementary school students in Ware began statewide achievement testing Monday, but have been interrupted by the emergency school closings.

The tests, which largely determine if schools and school systems are meeting the requirements of federal education standards, have not been completed.

Barrow said he’s not sure at this point what the school system is going to do.

“We’ve been canceled through Friday and we’re not sure about next week,” Barrow said. “This is a serious, serious circumstance.”