Rain helps to finally contain Georgia wildfire by Steph Ball
Rain came as a welcome relief this week to the many fire-fighters in Georgia who have battled endlessly to contain a large wildfire which has been burning for almost two months.
This present fire has been a rarity for the state, having started on April 16th along Sweat Farm Road, southwest of Waycross in Ware County. In its first day it rapidly burnt through 18, 000 acres and has since consumed more than 600, 000 acres along both sides of the Georgia/ Florida border.
Georgia normally sees about 8, 000 forest or bush fires each year, but most tend to be manageable, being doused out before they can burn through an acre of bush.
Although Ware County is more than 300 miles from Atlanta, the fire grew so fierce that residents here woke up to find thick smog choking the City on several mornings. It is reported to be the worst fire to have affected the lower 48 states in almost a century.
While this fire is now said to be almost totally contained, the drought conditions which helped exacerbate the fire are forecast to worsen. It has been reported this week that America may be facing its worst summer drought since the Dust Bowl years of the Great Depression.
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