Rain Brings Relief As Georgia Wildfire Grows, Boosts Containment Efforts
HORTENSE, Ga. — Up to an inch of rain fell on the Highway 82 wildfire April 26, days after Twin Rivers Baptist Church and others began praying for rain, helping contain the most destructive of the largest blazes burning southeast Georgia.
By Tuesday, the Highway 82 fire was 32 percent contained, the Brantley County Sheriff’s Department said in its mid-morning update, but had spread to 22,600 acres. Before the rain, the fire had been only 7 percent contained, although it had burned less than 14,000 acres.
“It was definitely godsent, that’s for sure,” Twin Rivers Baptist Church Senior Pastor Rusty Bryan told Baptist Press after the rain. Rainfall totals ranged from 0.3 inches to a little over an inch in the area of the Highway 82 fire during a thunderstorm between 7:30 and 8:15 p.m. Sunday, Fire Coast News reported, as exact totals were still being tabulated.
“It was such a blessing,” Bryan said. “I tell you, it was neat to watch the radar and just see [the rain] come right over the fire.”
Little Memorial Baptist Church, which had served as an evacuation shelter, was under a mandatory evacuation order today, but was anticipating being allowed to return to its church building.
“I’m waiting on ]Brantley County Sheriff Len Davis] to call me back now, give me direction whether he feels like we could possibly, maybe prayerfully, have church tomorrow night,” Little Memorial Senior Pastor James “Keith” Brown said. “When that mandatory evacuation hit, we all had to leave. Georgia Baptists have donated some money, and matter of fact, I’m waiting on a guy to call me anytime to meet up with him to assist and help with those who stand in need.”
Brown also praises God for the rain, which he said came when there was only a 2 percent chance of rain.
“But God sent a 100 percent chance down to Brantley County,” Brown said, “because it rained one inch where the fires were. … It was a blessing. That just showed God’s hand of grace and mercy upon the people because of the prayers that were sent up.”
Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief has deployed shower, feeding, laundry and chaplaincy units, GBDR said on its website, with a staging area at Lulaton Baptist Church. Logistics volunteers are also deployed. GBDR has urged volunteers not to collect any supplies for displaced individuals at this time.
Strong winds continued to spread the flames, but the rain definitely created better conditions to fight the fires, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said in a press briefing midday Tuesday.
“The rain we got, especially (for) the Highway 82 fire, was very helpful,” Kemp said. “That little bit of rain that we got, it allowed us to gain some ground, and everybody’s feeling really good about that. We’re definitely not out of the woods, but feeling a lot better.
“We’re still in the worst drought we’ve seen in 20 years,” the governor said. “We’re going to be dealing with this for quite a while.”
The Pineland Road Fire, the largest blaze, has doubled in size to 32,000 acres while scorching parts of Clinch and Echols counties; but the Highway 82 fire remains the most destructive because it is burning a more populated and developed area, officials said. The Highway 82 fire has burned 187 homes and 35 minor structures, officials said during the briefing, but no deaths have been reported.
The Pineland Road Fire had burned 32,541 acres and was 23 percent contained, Georgia Forestry Commission Director Johnny Sabo said during the briefing.
The Pineland and Highway 82 fires are the largest among 767 wildfires that have sparked across Georgia in the past 30 days, Kemp said during the briefing, which is 80 percent more than the state has averaged annually in the past five years. The fires have burned 145 percent more acreage than average, Kemp said.
The fires have destroyed the homes of several Little Memorial members, Brown said.
“I’m trying to reach out to them to find out what they stand in need of,” Brown said. “But when we can’t come together, it’s hard to correspond. I’m still waiting to hear what they need so that we can try to meet it.”
Many individuals and groups have donated cash and gift cards, Brown said, including Georgia Baptists, the Coastal Rivers Baptist Association, and area churches. God’s Pit Crew, an independent disaster relief crew based in Danville, Va., delivered to a nearby warehouse a tractor trailer full of care buckets filled with essential supplies, Brown said.
“Once we get the OK to get back to the church,” Brown said, “we’ll have all transported up to our church so that we can go ahead and start distributing.”
Brown said he is humbled that God has protected the lives of southeast Georgia residents during the flames.
“Knowing that our God is an ever-faithful God,” Brown said. “He’s faithful, He’s true. It’s all about God’s timing.”
This article was originally published at Baptist Press.