BRANTLEY COUNTY, Ga. — At least 82 homes have been destroyed in Brantley County, officials said during a press conference Tuesday afternoon.
They said that no additional homes have been lost in the past 24 hours since the 4:30 p.m., update.
The fire, as it stands, is currently over 22,000 acres with 32% containment. The fire hasn’t grown in the last two days, according to officials. However, County officials are stressing that containing this fire fully still has a long way to go.
“This is not a sprint, this is a long-duration fire,” said Josh Graham, Incident Commander with the Southern Area Complex Incident Management Team #1. “There’s going to be smoke in the area for a long time. It’s burning deep into those bogs and the swamps, and until we get I think Johnny quoted four inches of rain that’s not going to change unfortunately.”
Officials said they do anticipate the number of homes lost to this fire to go up as they continue to calculate the data and fight the fire.
County officials stressed that their priority right now is keeping people alive first ... then it’s saving their properties.
Officials say that this coming weekend, they are putting together a multi-agency resource center for people affected by the fire to use.
“The purpose is to put a lot of providers that represent a lot of organizations that bring something to support this public as a one-stop shop to let you get out and have a face-to-face with a human being to help us understand what your issue is and how we’re going to help you address that issue,” said Chuck White, Camden County EMA Director.
That resource center will be at the Brantley County Recreation Center. It will open starting Saturday at 9 a.m.
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