Georgia wildfire: Brantley County officials give update on Highway 82 Fire

Ajouté : 2026-05-05

[00:00:02]Right now more than 2,000 people are in the path of a wildfire in Brantley County, Georgia. 49 homes have been destroyed and more than 5,000 acres burned. And Brantley County schools are closed today and will be again closed tomorrow. I'm Shea Simmons. And I'm Phil Amato. Here's a map to give you some perspective on where that fire now is in Brantley County. 19,000 people live in that county and more than one in 10 are in the path of that fire. Brantley County Manager Joey Cason will be talking here in just a bit. Here's a live look right now as we wait for him.

[00:00:39]Uh another large blaze in Brantley County along Highway 82 is causing that problem right there. In fact, 5,000 acres have burned right now is what we've been told. Right now free meals are also being given out, too. And as we've been showing Brantley County school commissioners that are here, we really uh are grateful for you being here so we can get this information out to the citizens and other folks around the state. My name's Joey Cason. I'm the county commissioner for county manager for Brantley County. I got commissioners behind me.

[00:01:09]Uh obviously this fire has become a lot larger than we thought it would be on Monday. Uh we've got resources that have come from all over South Georgia and now from the state. We've got FEMA resources that have been promised and they should be in on the way this afternoon. If you're not from here, you can now feel that we have some wind blowing. I will tell you that wind blowing will affect the fire and we've seen smoke already this morning. So you need to be aware, especially if you're out trying to get pictures, you need to be very cognizant of where that wind's blowing and where it's going. Because that's what what could lead to what happened yesterday.

[00:01:42]We went from 700 acres yesterday morning at about 10:00 to almost 5,000 by 6:00 yesterday afternoon. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Sheriff Davis and he'll give you some updates.

[00:01:53]Sheriff.

[00:01:56]Right now the uh where the areas of the act the fire in the area of Highway 110 West um to the to the south of Drury Lane where it where it runs into 110 West 110 East which is to the south of 520 down near Gallberry Road and then old State Route 259 which which is to the south of 520 down to the Satilla Estates area.

[00:02:22]Um and then Highway 82 from basically from Satilla River Satilla River right down here to to the Browntown Road in Waynesville community.

[00:02:31]Uh some roads we'd like for for for for y'all to avoid for traveling is the Waynesville Road to 110, Waynesville Road to Highway 259, US 82 uh is closed from Nahunta to the Glynn County line and then Satilla Pines to Browntown Road.

[00:02:50]And that is where uh uh one of the fire areas is uh and that's specifically on uh to be uh avoided.

[00:03:00]Um these winds may shift rapidly and uh which will create unpredictable fire behavior so just stay alert and for the public, be prepared to evacuate immediately.

[00:03:13]And for those that are needing extra time for pets, livestock, any medical needs that may take you a little longer to evacuate, you should leave now if you're in those affected areas.

[00:03:23]All others should be ready to leave immediately if conditions worsen and the recommendation for the route to be evacuated is to Highway 32.

[00:03:33]So if you from wherever you're at, if you'll travel out to 32, that's an open road and you can you can get to where you need to go.

[00:03:40]Thank you.

[00:03:44]With that, I'll turn it over to uh Mr. Chuck White with emergency management.

[00:03:48]Chuck.

[00:03:50]Hey folks, good afternoon. I want to thank all of you for coming here and helping us carry this message. This is very important. This is a large, dynamic fire that is not fully contained.

[00:03:59]Roughly, this is about 4,000 acres, maybe a little less and we would characterize that at about 10% contained. This is very dynamic, very fluid, so it's moving and the threat moves with it. I think what you're hearing from the county administrator, from the sheriff and a board of commissioners for Brantley County is we have one singular overarching priority and that is life safety for first the public and secondly for those that are going into harm's way as our first responders to fight the fire.

[00:04:27]We're asking the public to pay attention. Be prepared. 1 2 3, hey, I've got everything ready. I've got fuel in the vehicle and I'm simply grabbing my go bag, what's important to me, my pet and I'm moving out. We have shelters available. We have a phone number you can call that's provided on the press release for how you get access to that.

[00:04:47]If the question is, and I don't want to get ahead of this, is how many people have been evacuated? Most evacuations are voluntary. So I'm not going to be able to put a number on that. What I can tell you is there's approximately 25 people currently in shelter. We're prepared for more and we expect more. I and I want to follow that up. Life safety and and and taking care of the social fabric for those um that have been impacted by this fire is a huge priority for this county. We're pulling in resources from the state of Georgia for long-term recovery group support so that we're able to start working through the issues for those that have lost everything. And and folks, in some cases, it is just that. They've lost everything. So the human element remains the number one focus for this organization, for this combined unified command, for this overarching structure that is attacking this vehemently, okay? Um we are I'm telling you just to see these folks deploy and come back after being on the fire line, it it you know, it'll it'll it'll bring you know, you'll be warm to it, okay? Um it is fantastic. You've got the best group of people fighting this fire and with that, I'll turn it back over to county administrator.

[00:05:59]So and and I think all of our commissioners would reiterate everything that Chuck just said. So please understand, our community is what's most important and the safety of our citizens. And with that, I'll turn it over to Deputy Commissioner Pritchett.

[00:06:11]Thank you.

[00:06:13]Thank you everybody.

[00:06:14]Um first of all, I'm here um representing office of Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John King. Um we have resources here from our office. It includes law enforcement officers, fire investigators and both um and all the other law enforcement elements from our office to provide whatever assistance is needed to the local government. Um everything from helping with traffic control issues to getting in those areas post fire and conducting um investigative techniques to make sure that we understand the scope of the damage and to be able to report it back here to the the lo- the local um officials. Um we're 100% here to provide that assistance to them in whatever they need. Um as far as the state response, I also want to make sure it's clear that the Department of Natural Resources is here um with several people um that goes along with the Georgia Forestry Commission, the Office of EMS um Department of Community Supervision Georgia State Patrol, Georgia Emergency Management Agency and the Georgia Department of Corrections and there's approximately two state air assets here on the ground right now. Um so there's a total of about 79 personnel the total um responding for the state of Georgia.

[00:07:25]Um all of that in support of the local government and whatever requests they may have and they may need um it's our job to to try and provide that resource and that need to them. Thank you all very much.

[00:07:38]So as you've heard, we have quite a few state assets here. We also have several local assets as far as our county. In Glynn County, we have the sheriff's department and law enforcement officers from their police department, fire folks from there and from Camden County. We have folks from Ware County and Way- the city of Waycross. Really, we have 22 fire agencies from all over South Georgia. So if you would like a list of that, we can get to you a list of that.

[00:08:00]Just please be asking the right folks, the PIO folks, they can get that for you. And with that that's it.

[00:08:10]Thank you.

[00:08:13]All right, just heard from Joey Cason, Brantley County Manager. Uh the reason there were no questions is because the county officials said they weren't going to take any questions. But as you heard, that fire is up 4,000 acres right now, more or less and that shifting wind, Shea, is going to be causing a little bit of a problem. They said they wanted people to watch out because of that.

[00:08:32]>> That is exactly what they said. If you are in those evacuation zones, they said, you know, now is the time to go, especially think about people who have pets, who have livestock. They said you don't want to wait till the last minute.

[00:08:42]So definitely taking this serious. And also we found out from this that FEMA resources are set to arrive this afternoon. So more resources coming to our area from uh Florida and Georgia, now nationally.

[00:08:53]>> Number of shelters open, too. Only 25 people in those shelters right now, but about 1,900 people are in harm's way. Um about 1/10 of the 19,000 people that are in Brantley County.