Growing wildfires blamed for death of Florida firefighter and destruction of 120 Georgia homes

NAHUNTA, Ga. (AP) — A volunteer firefighter died battling a wildfire in northern Florida while more than 120 homes have been destroyed in southeast Georgia and thousands more remain threatened by two large blazes, one of which investigators suspect was sparked by a foil balloon touching power lines, officials said Friday.

An unusually large number of wildfires are burning this spring across the Southeast, where scientists say the threat of fire has been amplified by a combination of extreme drought, gusty winds, climate change and dead trees still littering some forests after being toppled by Hurricane Helene in 2024.

In northern Florida, the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office said Friday that volunteer firefighter James “Kevin” Crews suffered an unspecified medical emergency while suppressing a brush fire. Crews was rushed to a hospital where he died Thursday evening, according to a news release posted to social media.

“Kevin was the epitome of courage and dedication,” Hilliard Volunteer Fire Chief Jerry Johnson said in a statement. “His sacrifice will never be forgotten.”

‘No way to stop this fire’ without soaking rain

After getting a firsthand look at firefighting efforts in southeast Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp told reporters that state officials believe 87 homes burned in rural Brantley County this week are the most destroyed by a single wildfire in the state’s history.

An additional 35 homes have been lost to a larger fire burning in sparsely populated Clinch and Echols counties near the Florida state line, Kemp said. That blaze has burned about 50 square miles (129 square kilometers), an area twice the size of Manhattan.

Kemp said officials suspect the Brantley County was sparked by a foil party balloon that touched live power lines, creating an electrical arc that ignited the ground. He said investigators suspect the larger fire started with a man welding a gate outside.

Spread across nearly 12 square miles (31 square kilometers) and still growing, the Brantley County blaze was 15% contained Friday, the Georgia Forestry Commission said. An estimated 4,000 homes in the county were under evacuation orders Friday, said commission spokesperson Seth Hawkins.

“There’s no way to stop this fire,” Kemp said. “They’re having to contain the flanks and the back of it and then, hopefully, we get a change in the weather.”

No fire deaths or injuries have been reported in Georgia.

Firefighters are battling more than 150 other wildfires in Georgia and Florida that have sent smoky haze into places far from the flames, triggering air quality warnings for some cities.

‘We’ve lost everything, but I’m one of the lucky ones’

Michael Gibson was at his job Thursday at a chicken feed producer when his fiancee called urging him to come home. By the time he arrived, firefighters were already on the road where Gibson, his fiancee and their four children lived. He said he took his family to safety and tried to return to salvage belongings, but police stopped him.

Gibson said the fire consumed his mobile home and one beside it where his fiancee’s brother lived. His family has been staying in a camper on a relative’s property.

“We’ve lost everything, but I’m one of the lucky ones.” Gibson said Friday. “We’ve been prepared to leave. And I’m truly blessed to have my family and to have somewhere to sleep. … A lot of people in my county didn’t make it out with the clothes on their backs.”

Jennifer Murphy said she had little time to react when firefighters knocked at her door in the Brantley County community of Hortense.

She said she barely had a chance to gather her dog, Chip, and a single bag of belongings before firefighters urgently helped her walk down her wheelchair ramp and grab a rolling walker from her van outside.

“It was like, ‘Get out now, right now. You’ve got to leave,’” Murphy said Friday at the local church where she had spent the night on a couch.

Firefighters are hosing down homes, trying to limit destruction

While crews with bulldozers work to clear fire breaks around the burning areas, firefighters from dozens of local agencies have focused on protecting nearby homes and other structures — clearing away dry brush and using hoses and sprinklers to keep houses and yards wet.

“We’ve definitely had the local fire guys out there literally hosing stuff down,” said Hawkins of the forestry commission.

In Florida, firefighters were battling more than 120 wildfires Friday, mostly in the state’s northern half. Fire crews in Georgia responded to 31 new and relatively small blazes Thursday, the state forestry commission said.

Officials say soaking rain is badly needed to snuff out the large fires, and that possible showers forecast this weekend won’t bring enough rainfall. There’s also a chance of thunderstorms, raising concerns that lightning could spark more fires.

“It is going to take 8 to 10 inches before we can walk away from these fires,” said Johnny Sabo, director of the Georgia Forestry Commission.

He said long-range forecasts predict less than average rainfall until July.

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Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia. Associated Press journalist Jeff Amy contributed from Atlanta