Terry Richards | The Valdosta Daily Times

VALDOSTA — Although there’s only one major wildfire in South Georgia right now, the state as a whole has seen an upswing in the number of blazes so far this year, officials said.

Figures provided by the Georgia Forestry Commission show that, for the first three and a half months of 2017, Georgia has seen 2,180 wildfires. The five-year average for the same period is only 1,780, the figures show.

Breaking down the state by region, the southwest corner of Georgia — the “Flint District,” which includes Thomas, Brooks, Cook, Tift and Colquitt counties — has had more wildfires than any other part of the state in Fiscal Year 2017, figures show. FY2017 runs from Oct. 1, 2016 through Sept. 30, 2017.

The Flint District had 1,281 fires, compared to 769 in the Satilla District to its east. The Satilla District covers southeast Georgia, including Lowndes, Echols, Berrien, Lanier and Clinch counties.

All of the fires in South Georgia save one were small fires, said Wendy Burnett, public relations director for the forestry commission.

The “one” is a blaze in the southern part of the Okefenokee Swamp which was reported April 6, said Susie Heisey, supervising park ranger for the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

“We were expecting an above-average fire season for South Georgia,” she said.

By Thursday, the blaze had grown to 8,400 acres, all on public lands, she said. The fire was started by a lighting strike, Burnett said.

The blaze was uncontained Thursday afternoon, Heisey said.

“We have about 110 personnel fighting the fire,” she said.

The forestry commission has sufficient manpower at the moment to tackle the blaze, Burnett said. The increasing number of fires over time has had an impact, though.

“We have agreements with other states when it comes to sharing firefighting resources,” she said. 

Georgia, though, has stopped sending fire crews to other states for the time being, Burnett said.

To keep a lid on the situation, the wildlife refuge has banned open flames, such as charcoal grilling and campfires, Haisey said.

The fire ban also affects Stephen C. Foster State Park, which is located entirely within the federal Okefenokee refuge, she said.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.