St. Catherine’s Island fire 50 percent contained, officials say

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - The fire on St. Catherine’s Island in Liberty County has continued to burn for days.

The Georgia Forestry Commission was called in to help with the fire on June 15 and since then, hundreds of acres have burned.

Georgia Forestry officials say the fire is about 50-percent contained.

A unique challenge of fighting this fire is resources, it can take up to five hours to get new equipment to the island by barge.

Currently, officials say there are about 15 people with Georgia Forestry helping to put out the flames but that they have more assistance on the way, increasing the team to about 40 people in the coming days.

Officials estimate that four fires have burnt 800-1000 acres on the island.

And something else that makes controlling this fire difficult? Ever-changing weather conditions.

“Of course because you are an island, you get different winds than what’s predicted. We had a prediction of I think three miles per hour yesterday, I’d estimate an easy 10 yesterday afternoon,” Byron Haire said.

Haire says they’re also doing their best to mitigate issues with air quality by keeping water on the flames.

They’ve dropped water by plane and helicopter, and will continue to do so.

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