Be especially careful with outdoor flames this week, as it won’t take much for a little ember to swell into a massive wildfire.
The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for much of North Georgia from noon through 8 p.m. Wednesday, signaling that weather conditions are ripe for dangerous wildfires. Humidity is very low across much of the state, and wind gusts in the warning area could top 25 mph.
“Any fires that develop could spread rapidly,“ the NWS warns. ”Outdoor burning is strongly discouraged.”
The warning area includes the cities of Atlanta, Athens, Blairsville and Gainesville and stretches into North Carolina to include Asheville.
A large portion of the rest of the state remains under a fire danger statement, a lower level of caution, due to wind gusts up to 24 mph.
As of Sunday, Georgia had seen 1,644 fires this year, a 20% increase over the five-year average during the same nearly three-month period. The number of acres burned this year — nearly 14,000— is up 50% compared to the recent average.
Over the weekend, the Georgia Forestry Commission reported 133 fires burned 1,677 acres, including one in Floyd County that prompted evacuations.
“We are grateful for a little rain (Monday), but we expect fire activity to ramp back up toward the weekend,” the commission’s spokesperson Wendy Burnett said.
On Wednesday, there is a moderate risk for fire potential, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
In fact, there has been an “above normal” potential for wildfires across the state throughout March, the center reported. Next month, conditions are expected to stay the same for much of the state with the exception of the northwest corner, where the risk is likely to be no greater than normal.
While this week’s rainy start offered some relief, the forecast for the rest of the week shows no rain at least through Sunday. So far this month, Atlanta has only seen 2½ inches of rain. That is about an inch less than normal for the city, but the metro area hasn’t quite slipped into drought conditions.
“Because we got quite a bit of precipitation earlier this year we’re actually in good condition,” said Weather Service meteorologist Vaughn Smith. “We’re not in a deep drought or anything like that; it’s just we’re in a dry period right now.”
The Floyd County fire burned about 40 acres and threatened dozens of homes. Several families living along New Rosedale Road were under a voluntary evacuation advisory Sunday.
Crews managed to fully contain the fire by Monday morning, Burnett said. Officials said one outbuilding was damaged and a nearby home was lightly damaged, but no injuries were reported. The cause remains under investigation.
Last weekend’s fires came as South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster declared a state of emergency as fire crews fought the Table Rock fire in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Officials called for voluntary evacuations of about 100 homes, according to a social media post from the state’s forestry commission.
That human-caused fire grew to more than 300 acres, The Associated Press reported. Downed timber from Hurricane Helene exacerbated the situation.
Residents in western North Carolina were under mandatory evacuations as multiple fires there ravaged land and property, according to the AP. At least three homes were destroyed.
Those who need to do any outdoor burning should pay attention to the Forestry Commission and the Weather Service’s fire weather forecasts.
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