Over the past week, high fire danger has been on the minds of area firefighters as Northeast Georgia’s weather conditions have left fallen leaves and dead grass dry.
The National Weather Service has issued a high fire danger warning for much of the northern part of the state during the week, and the Georgia Forestry Commission has suspended burn permits for many counties.
Hall and White Counties are in the clear for the most part, with fire danger sitting at moderate. The majority of Habersham, Rabun and Stephens counties continue to be at a high fire danger risk, according to the Wildland Fire Assessment System.
Ever since the high fire danger notice went out, area fire departments have seen an uptick in brush and woods fires, and have prevented several residential fires. There have been at least a half dozen woods and brush fires this week.
Some of those calls include a campfire outside a Cornelia home getting out of control, two yard fires and a handful of illegal burns.
A freak accident
Hall County Firefighter Richard Fugel has an outdoor wood boiler, which serves as an alternate heat source for his home. With his fire experience, he’s no stranger to being extra careful when it comes to fire safety and the boiler. But his caution was no match for the high fire danger in Northeast Georgia.
Fugel was on his way home from work when he got a call from his neighbor, asking if he was burning something.
“I told him I wasn’t home, and he said he would go take a look for me,” Fugel said in a Facebook post. “[The] next call I get, he tells me 911 has been called and there is fire everywhere, but the house is still OK.”
A spark left his wood boiler, and due to the dry conditions, his yard had caught fire. Through sheer luck and what Fugel calls “divine intervention,” his Cornelia home didn’t sustain any major damage.
“It is almost impossible—almost—that it [the boiler] kicks a spark out,” Fugel tells Now Habersham. “Well, the unlikely happened. It was basically a freak thing that all conditions had to be perfect for to happen.”
He says he’s grateful to Habersham and Cornelia fire services for stopping the fire, the Georgia Forestry Commission and his neighbor for taking notice. He encourages his neighbors to take fire safety seriously, especially right now when conditions are right for massive fires.
“Make sure your ashes are placed in metal containers and away from combustibles,” Fugel says. “That’s a huge cause of both woods and residential fires right now.”
Keeping fires at bay
“We are in a period of high fire danger currently in our area due to [weather] conditions, which simply means fires can start easily from almost any cause and small fuels, such as grass and [pine] needles, will ignite readily,” Habersham County Emergency Services Director Chad Black says.
Black says that campfires and outdoor burns, even if they’re being closely monitored, are likely to “rapidly” get out of control. Now is not the time to burn debris, but if you absolutely need to burn something, you should go through the burn permit line.
You can get your burn permit by calling 844-844-BURN (2876) or via the Georgia Burn Permits website.
