And why the risk remains a big problem in the region.
Thomas Barrett has already seen more wildfires across Georgia this spring than he cares to recall.
Two massive blazes in the southern part of the state were finally under control several weeks after they began, but not until they had devoured more than 50,000 acres and destroyed more than 100 homes. Then there were the thousands of other conflagrations the state’s firefighters have had to confront this season — 4,813 as of Thursday, not that Barrett was counting.
“That’s almost 2,000 wildfires above our annual average,” said Barrett, forest protection chief for the Georgia Forestry Commission. “And still a month and a half to go in fire season.”
Georgia is hardly alone. South Carolina already has eclipsed its recent annual average number of fires. Multiple states have put in place statewide burn bans during parts of this spring. Even as Barrett spoke, more than a dozen fires were raging to the south in Florida, including one that had scorched more than 11,000 acres along the Everglades and led local officials to issue air quality warnings.
