WAYCROSS (AP) — Ernest Sweat paused by the charred pine trunk he found

burning like a match two months ago and wondered — could he have

stopped the largest Southeastern wildfire in more than a century? Sweat was driving home April 16 when he spotted smoke along the dirt

road to his tobacco farm. Power lines were snapped by fallen pine and

flames climbed surrounding trees. He dashed home to call the fire

department, but the blaze had already spread.

It would become the Southeast’s biggest wildfire since 1898, according

to the National Interagency Fire Center.

“If I could have just been here a little bit earlier, before it got

into those roots, I could’ve outed it,” he said.

Within a day, the wildfire burned a 9-mile path through rural

timberland. A week later, the blaze had destroyed 18 homes and spread

into the Okefenokee Swamp.

After a month, it merged with a second fire, sparked by lightning, and

raced through the swamp into northern Florida. Firefighters were unable

to stop the blaze from spreading rapidly through trees, brush and

grasses turned tinder-dry by severe drought in southeast Georgia. In the end, the massive fire would burn a total of 903 square miles. Its footprint, up to 30 miles wide and 58 miles long,

covers an area 2.8 times larger than New York City.

The total cost is estimated at more than $54 million since the fires

began, most of it covered under federal emergency grants.

But fire officials say the fire, for the most part, has stopped growing. On June 2, Tropical Storm Barry doused the area with as much as 8

inches of rain, reducing most of the flames to smoldering coals.

Scattered showers since have dumped an additional 2 to 4 inches on the

fires, which are centered in the 402,000-acre Okefenokee National

Wildlife Refuge.

Firefighters are focusing on dousing smoldering hot spots and

fortifying bulldozed fire breaks that have the blazes more than 90

percent contained. But many are being sent home. About 600 firefighters

are now assigned to the Georgia and Florida fires — less than half the

number battling them a month ago.

Mark Ruggiero spent five weeks commanding firefighting efforts at the

Okefenokee refuge before his joint state-and-federal team left earlier

this month.

“We feel comfortable the fire in its current state will not escape the

refuge … but I wouldn’t say it’s impossible,” he said. “I suspect

this thing will be burning in September.”

The U.S. has seen several larger wildfires in recent years. Fires

burned 1.3 million acres in Alaska in 2004, and last year a cluster of

blazes scorched 907,245 acres near Amarillo, Texas.

Records of the Iowa-based National Interagency Fire Center show South

Carolina reported a series of fires that burned 3 million acres in

1898, although center spokeswoman Rose Davis questioned the accuracy of

records from so long ago.

Meanwhile, the Georgia Forestry Commission expects to have a portion of

the blaze — 82,500 acres south of Waycross and north of the Okefenokee

refuge — snuffed within three weeks.

In Folkston, on the eastern edge of the Okefenokee, cashier Mandy

Parker said it’s been three weeks since she last saw older customers at

the produce market where she works come in wearing dust masks to filter

the smoke.

“It’s a big difference — there’s no ashes falling anymore,” she said.

“It slowed down business because a lot of people here didn’t even get

out.”

This week, the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, operated by the

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, opened its visitor center for the first

time in more than a month.

Still, firefighters stress that if the rains cease, dry conditions and

strong winds could cause pockets of flame to flare back to life. Sweat, who first discovered the blaze, said he rides his four wheel

all-terrain vehicle through the woods behind his house “to see if I can

see any fire starting up.”

“I’m fire conscious now,” he said. “I don’t have much, but I’d sure

like for it to stay here.”



On the Net

Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge

www.fws.gov/okefenokee



National Interagency

Fire Center

www.nifc.gov/