There are many concerns running through South Georgia as wildfires continue to run largely uncontained.
One new and alarming concern has been raised over the raging Brantley County fire with firefighters being pulled from the front lines, along with mismanagement.
Government officials responded and pushed back.
Over the weekend, a firefighter spoke to Action News Jax on condition of anonymity, making allegations such as, “Firetrucks full of water, and I mean anywhere from three to 30 just sitting and being told not to do anything.”
The firefighter also claimed fire breaks were not being strategically implemented along the fire’s path, while crews were being pulled off the front lines.
In a response to Action News Jax, Karen Gleason, Public Information Officer of the Southern Area Incident Management Team, stated fire lines are being put in place around the entire fire. She also added there were reasons for some line crews being told to back off, such as safety concerns over high winds.
Gleason also argued some firefighters on sight are only trained to fight structural fires, not wildfires.
“Most structural firefighters are not comfortable fighting fire in the woods,” she said. “They don’t have the right gear. They don’t understand the fire behavior.”
In an official response posted to the Brantley County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page, Major Oliver with the Georgia Incident Management Team spoke about the pulling of firefighters from the line.
“There were some rumors about the county firefighters being pulled out,” he said Sunday, April 26. “Originally, I wanted to pull all the local firefighters out this morning, because they’ve been working for seven days. They’ve got to have a break, they’ve got to have their rest, they’ve got to be able to take care of their families.”
Oliver went on to explain that a compromise had since been reached, with plans to rotate local firefighters in shifts.
“We’ve had a lot of miscommunication on this,” Oliver said. “Most of the time anybody is moved, it’s for a specific reason, typically for safety purposes.”
The anonymous firefighter also raised concerns that decisions being made were not valueing saving homes.
“We’ve got extremely experienced people behind the scenes working to keep everybody safe, and to keep as much property safe as we possibly can,” said Oliver in response to the allegation.
