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Two boys arrested in connection with Georgia fires
Two boys arrested in connection with Georgia fires - CNN.com
As wildfires ravaged four counties in southeastern Georgia, two boys were charged in connection with starting small fires in that region, authorities said Thursday.
A 12-year-old boy was charged with criminal damage to property and the unlawful starting of a land fire for a blaze he allegedly sparked in Ware County.
A 16-year-old was charged with the same counts for allegedly starting a small fire in Wayne County, according to Darryl Jones of the Georgia Forestry Commission's Arson Task Force.
The arrests came after a bloodhound followed a footprint from the starting point of one fire and found a spot where teenagers hang out, Jones said.
"We followed the evidence and got to a juvenile who confessed," Jones told CNN.
Each of those fires, which were started on Monday, were quickly put out by firefighters after burning less than an acre, Jones said.
But the larger blazes are forcing people from their homes.
Residents of the small town of Moniac, Georgia, about 25 miles west of Jacksonville, Florida, were ordered to leave Wednesday as fire in the area known as Bugaboo Scrub on the southeastern edge of the Okefenokee Swamp burned closer.
However, officials Thursday changed the mandatory evacuation to a voluntary one because of changing weather conditions and because the area received some rain, according to an afternoon update from the joint information center on the southeast Georgia fires.
County officials said the order affected about 1,000 people.
The Bugaboo Scrub fire, which has consumed 68,650 acres since it began Saturday with a lightning strike about 16 miles west of Folkston, Georgia, is now threatening the small town of Fargo, about 45 miles east of Valdosta.
"The added concern today is the shifting winds" from Subtropical Storm Andrea, off the coast of Florida, said Kris Eriksen, manager of the joint information center on the southeast Georgia fires.
"We'll move resources as we have to," she added.
The Bugaboo Scrub fire has also closed Georgia's Stephen C. Foster State Park, which usually attracts a crowd over Mother's Day weekend, Eriksen said.
The unincorporated community of Taylor, Georgia, was evacuated Tuesday and the evacuation order remained in effect Thursday afternoon, officials said.
The sprawling Sweat Farm Road-Big Turnaround fire, south of Waycross, Georgia, has devoured 116,482 acres so far in Ware and Charlton counties, according to the Georgia Forestry Commission Web site.
The blaze began April 16 after a power line went down and sparked dry brush.
Wednesday, authorities in Charlton County issued a mandatory evacuation order for the Davis community, a group of about 20 houses, because the flames were creeping closer to them.
The fire has also forced the closure of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, as well as parts of Highway 1 and state Route 177, the incident report said.
Arson witness driving black truck
Investigators said Wednesday they were searching for a black, extended-cab, late '90s Chevrolet pickup driven by an arson witness. The truck was last seen Sunday in Brantley County. Officials did not say which fire the pickup is believed to be connected to.
More than 1,000 personnel are battling the Georgia blazes, many of which erupted because of the drought conditions in the region.
Southeast Georgia and northeast Florida are suffering from extreme drought conditions, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The region has received less than 8.5 inches of rain since the beginning of the year, the Georgia Automated Environmental Monitoring Network said on its Web site.
"The water table is very low in the Okefenokee Swamp," Eriksen said. "The little bits of rain we've been getting haven't helped."
The drought conditions, combined with the fact that there haven't been many fires in that region in recent years, are the perfect tinder box for wildfires, she said.
"You combine all the dead and down fuel (dry brush) with what would be your green fuel to slow it, and that's also drought-stressed, and the combo isn't going to slow a fire down, you're going to have a bigger fire," Eriksen explained.
In April alone, Georgia had more than 1,000 wildfires, Jones said.
Two boys arrested in connection with Georgia fires - CNN.com
As wildfires ravaged four counties in southeastern Georgia, two boys were charged in connection with starting small fires in that region, authorities said Thursday.
A 12-year-old boy was charged with criminal damage to property and the unlawful starting of a land fire for a blaze he allegedly sparked in Ware County.
A 16-year-old was charged with the same counts for allegedly starting a small fire in Wayne County, according to Darryl Jones of the Georgia Forestry Commission's Arson Task Force.
The arrests came after a bloodhound followed a footprint from the starting point of one fire and found a spot where teenagers hang out, Jones said.
"We followed the evidence and got to a juvenile who confessed," Jones told CNN.
Each of those fires, which were started on Monday, were quickly put out by firefighters after burning less than an acre, Jones said.
But the larger blazes are forcing people from their homes.
Residents of the small town of Moniac, Georgia, about 25 miles west of Jacksonville, Florida, were ordered to leave Wednesday as fire in the area known as Bugaboo Scrub on the southeastern edge of the Okefenokee Swamp burned closer.
However, officials Thursday changed the mandatory evacuation to a voluntary one because of changing weather conditions and because the area received some rain, according to an afternoon update from the joint information center on the southeast Georgia fires.
County officials said the order affected about 1,000 people.
The Bugaboo Scrub fire, which has consumed 68,650 acres since it began Saturday with a lightning strike about 16 miles west of Folkston, Georgia, is now threatening the small town of Fargo, about 45 miles east of Valdosta.
"The added concern today is the shifting winds" from Subtropical Storm Andrea, off the coast of Florida, said Kris Eriksen, manager of the joint information center on the southeast Georgia fires.
"We'll move resources as we have to," she added.
The Bugaboo Scrub fire has also closed Georgia's Stephen C. Foster State Park, which usually attracts a crowd over Mother's Day weekend, Eriksen said.
The unincorporated community of Taylor, Georgia, was evacuated Tuesday and the evacuation order remained in effect Thursday afternoon, officials said.
The sprawling Sweat Farm Road-Big Turnaround fire, south of Waycross, Georgia, has devoured 116,482 acres so far in Ware and Charlton counties, according to the Georgia Forestry Commission Web site.
The blaze began April 16 after a power line went down and sparked dry brush.
Wednesday, authorities in Charlton County issued a mandatory evacuation order for the Davis community, a group of about 20 houses, because the flames were creeping closer to them.
The fire has also forced the closure of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, as well as parts of Highway 1 and state Route 177, the incident report said.
Arson witness driving black truck
Investigators said Wednesday they were searching for a black, extended-cab, late '90s Chevrolet pickup driven by an arson witness. The truck was last seen Sunday in Brantley County. Officials did not say which fire the pickup is believed to be connected to.
More than 1,000 personnel are battling the Georgia blazes, many of which erupted because of the drought conditions in the region.
Southeast Georgia and northeast Florida are suffering from extreme drought conditions, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The region has received less than 8.5 inches of rain since the beginning of the year, the Georgia Automated Environmental Monitoring Network said on its Web site.
"The water table is very low in the Okefenokee Swamp," Eriksen said. "The little bits of rain we've been getting haven't helped."
The drought conditions, combined with the fact that there haven't been many fires in that region in recent years, are the perfect tinder box for wildfires, she said.
"You combine all the dead and down fuel (dry brush) with what would be your green fuel to slow it, and that's also drought-stressed, and the combo isn't going to slow a fire down, you're going to have a bigger fire," Eriksen explained.
In April alone, Georgia had more than 1,000 wildfires, Jones said.
