Brantley County Wildfire update — Full Press Conference

[0:01] So good afternoon. My name is Joey Kaysen. Thank you all for being here. We are really grateful [0:05] that you're giving this the news that you're giving it. It's important for us to get information [0:10] out to our citizens and we've had significant number of donations and stuff that have came in [0:15] since you've been reporting this. I will tell you if you were not here this morning, the folks that [0:20] were here this morning were told that this fire could shift at any point in time and it was [0:23] contingent upon the wind. I will tell you if you look over to the east slightly north you'll see [0:29] smoke. This fire has shifted and it's been a major movement in the fire. So we have more [0:34] fire going on right now than we had this morning when we started. Also earlier this afternoon [0:41] the governor did issue a statewide state of emergency. I'm going to read slightly from [0:46] this just so you'll be able to hear what he had to say. So earlier today the state of Georgia [0:50] declared a state of emergency due to the increasing wildfire threat across south Georgia driven by [0:56] severe drought conditions, high winds and low humidity. Since April 18th more than 90 wildfires [1:04] have been reported statewide including the highway 82 fire in Brantley County which has burned thousands [1:09] of acres and remains only partially contained. The declaration also includes statewide burn ban [1:16] in affected counties and allows for additional state and federal resources to support ongoing [1:20] firefighting efforts. We know that we've already received some state support and there's more [1:26] on the way. So we're extremely grateful for everything that the governor and for the state [1:30] for what they're doing. I will also tell you we've had one of our centers that closed down [1:35] due to the fire and right now we have a Hunnam Methodist Church and we have a Baptist church [1:40] on the, is it Waynesville Missionary Baptist Church that are both operating as places where people [1:48] can make donations and also where they can get out of the fire area if they need so. I'm going [1:54] to turn it over to Sheriff Davis right now and he's going to give you some other information. [1:57] Thank you. [1:58] Good afternoon Sheriff. Appreciate y'all coming out. Right now we've had confirmed 54 structures [2:12] that have been destroyed. Approximately 5,000 acres property has been burned. They're still [2:20] at about a 10% containment. We have one report minor injury to a firefighter yesterday. He was retreated, [2:28] treated and released. Law enforcement, we will have security for the affected areas of where the fire's at, [2:36] and we'll, we'll also still be doing traffic control. And remember this wind is still unpredictable. [2:42] So we have a, uh, this fire's favorable for our rapid growth. Um, the affected areas, we've had a, [2:53] had a one change. We still have the Atkinson community east of the Sotilla River, Highway 110 West, [2:59] south of the Coffey County Club Road, Highway 110 East to, uh, Galberry Road and Old State Route 259, [3:09] um, down to about Deerwood and now Browntown Road to Crawlsby Lane, um, are the affected areas. [3:19] And mind you, we will be, we will have the, uh, traffic controls for those areas and we will be, [3:26] uh, keeping a constant check on those areas. And for any updated information, you can go to the Brantley [3:33] County Sheriff's Office Facebook page for any, uh, updated information. Thank you. [3:40] So one other thing before any questions, just so everyone will be aware, uh, you were told earlier [3:46] today that we thought we had 70 structures. Those structures included some things that were not [3:50] counted as dwellings and stuff. The state fire marshal's been here. They've, they've helped us [3:55] clarify those structures. So we're real accurate on those structures now because of the support that [4:00] state's given us. So just be aware of that. And one other thing, and I told folks this morning to be [4:05] aware of this earlier this afternoon, I was in one of the areas that was severely impacted by this fire. [4:11] While we were out there with two commissioners and one of the other folks that was doing some [4:14] photography work for the county, we saw flash flare up that happened within five minutes. It [4:20] went from smoke to a fire. So just understand this, this thing is a very dynamic situation that's [4:26] changing in the, in a matter of moments. If the wind kicks in a certain way right now, the sheriff and [4:31] I'll be glad to answer any questions. We also have Chuck White here with emergency management, [4:35] if you, if he can help you. Yes, ma'am. Well, as far as the state is concerned, [4:50] I really could not give you an accurate count on that. I will tell you that Ware County has had two [4:54] severe fires in the last 20 years, just west of here that were more significant as far as damage, [5:00] as far as the amount of land and in the Okefenokee swamp. So I'm sure there was probably more damage in [5:05] both those fires than this fire. All 54 are dwellings. Yes, sir. So your question was, [5:27] are these pine trees swamps or other things? Yes, is the answer to that question. It's pine trees, [5:33] it's swamps, it's oak trees, it's homes. All of that's in that area where it's being burned right [5:41] now. That's a great question. And I'll be honest with you, we cannot force these folks to leave, [6:04] even though we give a mandatory evacuation. When we, when we announced that mandatory evacuation, [6:10] we have folks from the sheriff's department, from our fire departments going door to door [6:13] and asking these folks to leave. Where I was at this afternoon, when that flare up came, [6:18] there were citizens all around us. They know that they're in fire danger. So it's a very serious [6:24] situation where we have citizens that are in harm. Fortunately, so far when it's gotten really hot, [6:30] they've left. I'll be glad to answer that. So just so you'll know, [6:57] we've got 22 different fire departments from around South Georgia that are on site. [7:02] And they're cycling in and out to the hotspots. So we've got relief over here. And as soon as they [7:07] come off the scene, they're heading out, those guys are coming back and getting rest here. And [7:11] it's until the grocery. So we've got 22 stations, that's five from our county and the other 17 from [7:17] all over South Georgia. Some have come even beginning to come from further north than just in South [7:23] Georgia. Okay. Now, what are we doing? Right now, we've got about 15 tractors that are on the ground. [7:29] Now, those are from Georgia Forestry Commission. Those tractors are cutting fire breaks just as fast [7:33] as they can, trying to keep that fire from spreading. I can tell you on Monday night, we had six tractors [7:41] basically running. This was at 11 o'clock Monday night, six tractors running, six tractors wide, [7:46] and that break was busted in 30 minutes on Tuesday morning. So basically we've got 17 tractors on all [7:52] the hotspots and they're cutting fire breaks all over the county right now, trying to slow it down [7:57] and possibly contain it. The containment that we had hoped for this morning, everybody that was here [8:02] this morning was told if the wind picks up, that containment number is going to go down. That [8:06] containment number has gone down and the fire is spreading. And right now it's moving north, basically [8:12] northeast. So the containment number's down. Maybe we might still be at 10%. It could be lower than [8:19] that right now. No, honestly, nighttime is typically in South Georgia where the wind lays down. And when [8:28] the wind lays down, we're able to get a better hand on it. That's why we had a better number this [8:31] morning. We anticipate that the wind may basically go lower again this evening. We also have humidity. [8:38] A lot of times it picks up and we have dew in the morning. The dew is something that will help the [8:42] firefighters to begin with. As soon as the sun comes up and the dew burns off, I'm telling you, [8:47] all of these areas, if you see any of the areas of burn, they're all subject to burn again because [8:52] of pine needles and other items that are falling off the trees. If you get that eye pause alert that [9:04] says it's a mandatory evacuation, you need to leave immediately. You need to be, as Chuck said [9:09] earlier this morning, you need to be ready, set, go. You should have your stuff ready. You should be [9:13] set. And as soon as that mandatory evacuation comes out, you should leave. So we're taking that information [9:30] and we've got a call center opened up and that call center is being supported by the sheriff for [9:34] Brantley County. Basically, we'll ingest that data on the address. They tell us where that's located at. [9:40] We're going to get our teams to go out where it's safe to do so. And we'll get an assessment of the [9:44] property. Then we're going to be happy to come back and share that information. Our goal is to get [9:48] people repatriated with their home as soon as possible. But while it is safe to do and real quick to [9:54] the question about what do we want them to do prepare, one extra step is if you have any [10:00] vulnerability, someone who is, you know, requires assistance, wheelchair, oxygen, think early, [10:06] think quicker. You may really want to heed a voluntary evacuation call and not wait because you're going [10:12] to take more time to get moved out of your location. So, and this is a fast moving fire. When it goes, [10:17] it's going to go. And along those lines, to just piggyback with what Chuck said, our EMS services, [10:23] and we have right now five separate EMS services that's supporting this fire, we will go get folks [10:29] if we need to that have health related issues that need to be removed or gotten out before the fire [10:35] gets to them. So I will be very honest with you and say it's a miracle that we have not had any [10:48] lives lost. There's no doubt about that. So on Monday night, I can tell you we were about at a 700 [10:54] acre situation. We had a lot of support as far as Georgia Forestry and our local fire departments on [11:01] scene. We were putting out all the hot spots and Georgia Forestry was doing everything they could [11:06] to contain the fire. I will tell you that I was on scene Tuesday morning at about 9 30 at the spot [11:12] where the hot spot really broke out that did all of this damage yesterday. At 9 30, there was a tractor [11:18] there and it was virtually contained. At 10 o'clock, the wind picked up. At 10 30, we had three houses [11:24] right in that area burned. So once that wind picks up, control is lost and we don't know which way [11:30] it's going. Yesterday, we had wind that was coming from the north. Then if you were where you were at [11:36] yes this afternoon, we had wind that was coming from the north blowing it south. Then we had wind [11:41] that was coming from the northeast blowing it southeast. Then we had wind coming from the east [11:45] that was blowing it to the west. And so you could see all of those areas that were burned in a matter of [11:50] four or five hours that we had absolutely no control of, no way to contain.