Breaking: Fires Raging Out of Control in GA

Alert to any ATSers in GA!

LUDOWICI, GA (WTOC) - Crews from 20 departments are battling a fire in Ludowici.

Ludowici police said the fire at U.S. Highway 84 and Elim Church Road has spread at least 7 to 8 miles. U.S. Highway 84 is closed on the Jesup side as well as up to Elim Church Road on the Long County side.

Darrell Ballance, director of Long County Emergency Management Agency, said they do not have a handle on the fire and that it is out of control. It started out as a controlled burn, turned into a small brush fire, and the wind picked it up.

The winds are making the fight extremely difficult for firefighters. They are attacking different spots and plan to remain at the scene throughout the night. Electricity had to be cut from some poles because the fire has jumped onto the power lines.

www.wtoc.com...

Hoping they get those fires under control ASAP...

This is the first wild fire I can recall in GA. Is it common there? Just one more calamity to add to the ever growing list of calamities across the globe lately.

Looks like things haven't peaked yet.

Originally posted by wayno
This is the first wild fire I can recall in GA. Is it common there? Just one more calamity to add to the ever growing list of calamities across the globe lately.

Looks like things haven't peaked yet.

Greetings:

As a volunteer firefighter, we respond to out-of-control "controlled burns" more than need be.

The USFS, bless their little pea-pickin' hearts, does not have a very good track record here in Georgia with "controlled" burns. We just had an incident this week where they lost a couple of structures - including a house - by not having equipment and people in the right places before primary ignition.

As I am way up-state in Rabun County, we'll let the locals handle that one.

Perhaps, you would be so good as to respond to this potentially significant project we have just initiated.

From what we know at this time, it appears that many of the earthquake lights appear about 30 minutes before a major earthquake. With enough data, it might be possible to postulate the birth of some sort of "early warning system," based on real-time data from enough respondents over a broad area - or pinpointed in places like Yellowstone, New Madrid, SoCal, Alaska, etc.

As a first responder and having lived in SoCal for 40 years, I can tell you that a 30-minute lead time on a quake could save thousands of lives.

How about assisting in this project which will correlate earthquake lights, strange sounds and rumblings, smells(?) - before, during, after - and earthquakes. The information collected could possibly lead to some sort of earthquake prediction system here within ATS if the data can be analyzed for some sort of predictive pattern. The idea is to collect the correct data from the start - and as soon as possible IMHO.

I, personally, would welcome any advice/help/suggestions/interested parties to make this idea better and a reality sooner.

It might be interesting to see if any of these sounds have "Earthquake Lights" associated with them before/during/after the sounds and an earthquake? Or were there sounds/lights and the EQ hasn't happened as yet - we really do not have enough data to make an informed decision as to the amount of time between events...?

Here's another thought...what about pre-quake smells?

Please help to spread the word to as many people as possible to quickly build the database as this information and map may prove to be quite timely - especially to people in the Yellowstone/New Madrid/West Coast/Alaska areas.

Earthquake Lights Map Live Update

Thank you for your time and consideration.

These challenges to life and sanity on this planet must be met with clear minds and sound hearts, so may your 2011 see you embracing its highest potential and onward through the fog!

In Peace & Light

tfw




American Red Cross

Dodged a Solar Bullet

Will America's Nuclear Power Plants Fail in an 8.0 Earthquake?

reply to post by thorfourwinds


Thanks for your good work as a volunteer firefighter. As it happens I live in a non-earthquake zone. The strongest we ever had happened barely a month ago, here in S.W. Ontario, Canada. It was in the 4 range.

It is a good premise to log the discernible signs like smell, sound and light to see if these can be valid predictors. We are still a long ways off from understanding our planet and its habits, routines and exceptionalities.

As for GA, I hear you about their abilities or lack thereof to set a "controlled" burn.

www.drought.unl.edu...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/90db7819f1cb.png[/atsimg]

My county is in D3 - Extreme Drought here in Northeast Florida and we had our Sheriff call our number on the 18th asking us to confirm our information on their website in the event of a 'Code Red'. I can only assume they are referring to the extreme drought we are under and where we live which is covered in rather dense dry woods. We had wicked fires back in 2004 which closed down US1 and I am expecting a repeat this year.

I feel absolutely horrible for these people there in Georgia I can only pray that no one is injured or killed and property damage is at the very minimum.

Us here all across the Deep South need some serious rainfall and soon or else we will be in a big problem.

reply to post by wayno


I live in south Georgia near the affected areas, in Wayne County which borders Ludowici, Ga. The one in Ludowici, last I heard, is pretty much contained now, but fires are still burning all around the area, we're just surrounded by fire and smoke it seems. My county has been very lucky, so far we only had one fire not far from my home that only burnt about 125 acres, but that's still a loss just the same, and the smoke has been terrible. As to whether or not this is a common occurrence here, I would say it is fairly common, especially during droughts and times of high winds, such as now, but I don't remember ever hearing of so many huge fires all at once in this area, it truly is a scary ordeal. It would've been nice for the fire departments to be better prepared for a situation like this, maybe this will serve as a lesson, but then again, we are a poor state, so things may not change very much if we can't put more money into it...also, a lot of what has kept the fires burning is the fact that helicopters that have been dumping water on the fires have been grounded because of the high winds...its just a bad situation all around. Luckily, not many homes have been affected, but so much land has been lost, and here in the south, land and trees equals money...please continue to keep the people who have been affected by the situation in your thoughts and prayers.

reply to post by angelheart85


It does seem like its the scale of things that is unusual everywhere. It is not just one or two fires but many all at the same time.
I wish we could give you some of our rain that we have had too much of up here in S.W. Ontario. You could have some of the cold too if that would help. We're about 20 deg. F. below normal for the time of year.

I didn't know GA and FL got draught periodically. I associate both areas with lush swamps and forests.

Originally posted by angelheart85
reply to post by wayno

 

I live in south Georgia near the affected areas, in Wayne County which borders Ludowici, Ga. The one in Ludowici, last I heard, is pretty much contained now, but fires are still burning all around the area, we're just surrounded by fire and smoke it seems. My county has been very lucky, so far we only had one fire not far from my home that only burnt about 125 acres, but that's still a loss just the same, and the smoke has been terrible. As to whether or not this is a common occurrence here, I would say it is fairly common, especially during droughts and times of high winds, such as now, but I don't remember ever hearing of so many huge fires all at once in this area, it truly is a scary ordeal. It would've been nice for the fire departments to be better prepared for a situation like this, maybe this will serve as a lesson, but then again, we are a poor state, so things may not change very much if we can't put more money into it...also, a lot of what has kept the fires burning is the fact that helicopters that have been dumping water on the fires have been grounded because of the high winds...its just a bad situation all around. Luckily, not many homes have been affected, but so much land has been lost, and here in the south, land and trees equals money...please continue to keep the people who have been affected by the situation in your thoughts and prayers.

Greetings:

We have had quite a good success record with our product, Barricade Fire Blocking Gel.

This may be of interest to you in the rural area to be able to quell or at least inhibit the fire before help arrives. Yes, I am the Georgia rep and am willing and able to answer all questions.

We even arrange live-burn demonstrations for fire departments and/or home owners associations. We encourage the formation of CERTs (Community Emergency Response Teams). Check out the stories and videos on the Barricade site.

A group of residents on Palomar Mountain will breathe a little easier with Barricade on hand. County Supervisors have approved a grant for the Volunteer Fire Department to purchase the Barricade for the neighborhood. Residents have been actively working to reduce the fuel load in the area, and Barricade will offer an added level of protection in case of a wildfire threat.

Thanks to the efforts of Chief George E. Lucia Sr., volunteer block captains will be trained to use Barricade and be responsible for helping their neighbors by applying it to homes that may be threatened. Community Emergency Response Team caches will be located throughout the mountain neighborhood. With structure protection the responsibility of the community residents, firefighters will be able to get to the fire lines more quickly, and orderly evacuation measures will be more efficient.

San Diego County firefighters had proof of Barricade’s effectiveness in 2003, when they used it to save more than 50 homes during the Paradise Fire.

The plan on Palomar Mountain is a model worthy of consideration by neighborhood associations in other areas. Fire departments welcome the active participation of residents who are able to take responsibility for protecting their property as much as possible. Response time is of utmost importance when a wildfire strikes. With such cooperation from homeowners, fire department resources can be mobilized to the front lines of the fire, and authorities can manage safe evacuations.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

In Peace & Light

tfw



American Red Cross

Dodged a Solar Bullet

Will America's Nuclear Power Plants Fail in an 8.0 Earthquake?

reply to post by wayno


It would be nice to have some of your rain, but the cold I think we could all do without down here! LOL! We are used to the heat! We have a chance of thunderstorms today, so that could help some, but there are also fears that lightning strikes could set off more fires...

The scale of things definitely is what sticks out to me, not just with these fires, but the many earthquakes occurring and such as that. Things really seem to be heating up, no pun intended.

Originally posted by wayno
reply to post by thorfourwinds

 

Thanks for your good work as a volunteer firefighter. As it happens I live in a non-earthquake zone. The strongest we ever had happened barely a month ago, here in S.W. Ontario, Canada. It was in the 4 range.

It is a good premise to log the discernible signs like smell, sound and light to see if these can be valid predictors. We are still a long ways off from understanding our planet and its habits, routines and exceptionalities.

As for GA, I hear you about their abilities or lack thereof to set a "controlled" burn.

Greetings:

Thank you for your kind words. Been doing this about 40 years, so its second nature by now. I even check in with the local command when we respond to hurricanes.

This may be of interest to you in Canada.

May 1998 Canada Fires

This was Barricade's first true test under fire!

Fires had been burning for weeks and it was sometimes difficult to distinguish between night and day.

Strike Team Leader Darren Hutchinson and Barricade President John Bartlett were assigned the task of protecting a large lumber mill and log deck storage area.

Darren and John used Barricade to coat the log deck in front of the approaching firestorm. Barricade Gel protected the log deck from burning, thereby saving the lumber mill adjacent to it.

It was estimated that in its first use, Barricade saved approximately 60 million dollars' worth of property!

I don't know if you are directly interested, but here is our Canadian rep:

Quintech Fire Services
Darren Hutchinson
5460 Hwy 3
Brideville, BC VOH1B0
Phone: 250-446-2217
Fax: 250-446-2218
E-mail: [email protected]
www.quintechfire.com...

Thank you for your time and consideration.

In Peace & Light

thorfourwinds




American Red Cross

Dodged a Solar Bullet

Will America's Nuclear Power Plants Fail in an 8.0 Earthquake?

reply to post by angelheart85


Greetings:

Check this out.

StrikeStarUS

U.S. LIGHTNING ACTIVITY LAST 60 MONUTES

In Peace & Light

tfw




American Red Cross

Dodged a Solar Bullet

Will America's Nuclear Power Plants Fail in an 8.0 Earthquake?