BRANTLEY COUNTY, Ga. — With the Highway 82 fire in Brantley County now 85% contained, the Georgia Forestry Commission’s main focus is working to find the remaining hot spots using drones with infrared technology.
“It looks at the heat signature coming off the fire in there and allows us to see that on the camera and geo-reference it in real time, put it on a map to get coordinates for the hotspot so we can send it to our firefighters,” said Matthew Marizek with the Georgia Forestry Commission.
Marizek is an Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) pilot with GFC. He says there are still a lot of hot spots popping up within the perimeter of the Highway 82 fire.
“There are hundreds of hotspots remaining in the fireline, but we’re working to contain those,” said Marizek.
“There’s ones that are real far interior that don’t pose a threat to our lines, and those will continue to burn for quite some time with this drought going on,” said Drew Mickolay, Public Information Officer for the Southern Area Complex Incident Management Team #1.
Mickolay says that despite the fire being 85% contained, there is still more work to be done.
“We’re working diligently with crews and machinery getting in there getting those last hotspots, but there still be some work to go in the future,” said Mickolay.
Officials say while there is still a lot of heat left on the fire, many of those hot spots are smoldering and pose no immediate danger. geo-reference
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.