Brantley County wildfire slows after destroying record number of homes

BRANTLEY COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC) - A massive wildfire that has destroyed more homes than any other fire in Georgia state history is starting to slow down after burning over 22,000 acres.

Two south Georgia wildfires have combined to destroy over 120 homes.

“It’s heartbreaking,” said Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.

While a fire off Pineland Road was starting to slow after a week, the Highway 82 fire doubled in size over the weekend. Now the balance is shifting.

“It hasn’t grown in two days,” said Josh Graham, an incident management team trainee.

Weather change aids firefighting efforts

The slowdown is due to a change in the weather.

“We’ve taken an extremely aggressive approach to the suppression efforts. Two to three days ago it was ‘hold what you can,’ last few days now we’ve been able to hold our lines, there’s been no new structures destroyed, that’s good news,” Graham said.

Fire spreads quicker in hotter, drier temperatures. Wind previously stoked the flames back out of control when firefighters were making progress.

“As time goes on and that fire burns down, and we’ve cleared that vegetation, over time it gets better,” Graham said.

Kemp has seen both fires and commended the work done. The Highway 82 fire has destroyed more houses than any other fire in state history, but officials said it could have been worse.

“There was a lot of homes that literally the edge of the fire has burnt up into their yards and those firefighters stopped that fire and saved those homes,” Kemp said.

An event Saturday at 9 a.m. will be held in Brantley County to help those who lost everything recover what they can.