Arson fires burn thousands of acres of wildlands in Georgia every year. The Georgia Forestry Commission trained their rangers Thursday on how to tell if a wildfire is arson.
“With the smoke blowing, with the high winds we’re having today, the flame moves very fast through what we call light fuels,” wildland firefighter John Harriss said.
The first lesson: anything can happen. “Pull out! Okay they’re calling for us to come out so we need to come out of the fire, just head towards where they’re at,” Harriss said. A blaze was headed straight that way.
The Georgia Forestry Commission set up the fire to teach their rangers how to approach an arson fire. But strong winds caused the fire to move quicker than expected. “That’s just the dangers of the job, the ever changing conditions, you have to stay alert and have situational awareness at all times,” Harriss said.
Georgia Forestry Chief of Law Enforcement Brian Clavier said arson can be just as common in the forest as it is in cities. “We have some serial arson cases, like the one we had in south Georgia last year, where people actually enjoy setting fires,” Clavier said. Last year arsonists burned around 3,000 acres in Georgia.
From WGXA News: https://wgxa.tv/news/local/georgia-forestry-commission-trains-to-recognize-arson