GLYNN COUNTY, GA – Sunday, March 16, the Glynn County Fire Department was notified about a wildfire burning in a remote area of southern Glynn County, extending along a section of railroad.

As fires in this area are not uncommon the departments response is with a single engine and ambulance to determine what other resources may be necessary.  Upon arriving the Lieutenant determined that the fire had extended some distance along the railroad and that if the department was going to be able to contain the fire that additional resources were necessary.  Included in the secondary response were two additional fire engines, a 2500 gallon tanker, the volunteers and the on duty Deputy Chief.  Georgia Forestry was also called out to assist with the wind driven fire.  In addition to ground forces, Volunteer Jones provided air support and assisted personnel until Georgia Forestry’s plane could get to the incident.

 While in a remote area of the County, personnel are able to access the fire by way of a network of forestry logging roads and access roads running along the railroad.

 Once on scene, fire crews quickly began to extinguish the fire along the railroad, as Georgia Forestry plowed a fire break around the remaining area, containing the largest portion of the fire.

 While suppression operations were under way Volunteer Jones was directed to fly the remainder of the railroad within the County and advise if he located any additional areas of concern.

One area of major concern for Department personnel were two timber trestles.  Volunteer Jones was directed to visually inspect the trestles from the air and determine if any fire had reached then.  Jones reported back that one trestle did, in fact, have some fire at the base and directed ground crews through the maze of logging roads to the trestle, where the fire was quickly extinguished with only minor damage to some of the timbers.

During the duration of the operation all rail traffic along this stretch of track was shut down.  Department personnel had fire under control and contained in approximately 1 hour and turned the incident over to Georgia Forestry crews.  There were no injuries resulting from the incident.  The cause of the fire is suspected to be from ambers or sparks from a passing train.