By Gordon Jackson
Florida Times-Union
Copyright 2007 The Florida Times-Union
KINGSLAND, Ga. — A group photo of Georgia Forestry Commission firefighters hangs in Jan Amen’s Texas Forest Service office as a reminder of when the two groups worked together a year ago.
The Texas fires - 29,141 of them - burned for 515 days in 2005 and 2006, burning more than 4 million acres, destroying 734 homes and killing 20 people. Things could have been much worse, if not for the Georgia Forestry Commission, Amen said.
So, when wildfires began burning in Southeast Georgia more than a month ago and a request for support was issued, Amen and fellow firefighters from her state were eager to come to the area to repay a debt.
“I wanted to come to Georgia,” Amen said. “Georgia Forestry Commission helped us a lot last year.”
The Texas team’s two-week tour of duty ends today, but Amen and other firefighters from her state say they haven’t come close to repaying Georgia firefighters for their help last year.
“I feel like I put a dent in the debt,” she said.
Amen’s sentiments were echoed by Les Rogers, assistant chief fire coordinator for the Texas team.
“We were excited we could come and help,” he said. “We really felt obligated.”
Rogers said it was like a family reunion when he came to Georgia two weeks ago. Firefighters from both states have worked together enough to know each other’s abilities, which he said is crucial when it comes to battling wildfires.
“It’s very important to trust the guys you work with,” Rogers said. “The way the fuels burn around here is eye-opening. We don’t see timber fires of this magnitude in the eastern United States.”
One surprise, Rogers said, is the similarities between wildfires in Texas and the one currently burning from Waycross to North Florida.
“Sometimes, they burn like grass fires in North Texas,” he said of the rapidly spreading fires.
Bill Woodyard, who retired in 2006 from the Georgia Forestry Commission’s office in Rome after 34 years, spent 18 weeks battling wildfires in Texas a year ago. Some Texas firefighters joke that Woodyard spent so much time in their state last year, he should be eligible to vote there.
“I don’t see it as repaying a debt,” Woodyard said of the Texas team coming to Georgia. “It’s like one friend helping another friend. You have a very strong bond.”
It’s possible firefighters from the two states will be reunited in Southeast Georgia sometime in coming weeks because it’s unlikely enough rain will fall to extinguish the fires currently burning.
John Pendergast, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the drought index is getting more extreme each day in Southeast Georgia. He said it will take 18 to 21 inches of rain to end the ongoing drought conditions.
The only immediate relief the region can hope for to extinguish the fires is a tropical storm, he said.
Rogers said his agency has already been talking with the Georgia Forestry Commission about returning to help with the fires. Besides returning a favor to firefighters who helped his state, Rogers said he also wants to show his gratitude toward residents who have extended more hospitality than he could have ever expected.
“They see you are from out of state and they give you a hug and offer to buy you a meal,” he said. “It’s really been overwhelming.”
Amen said she may also return to the region, but she doesn’t want to.
“I’m hoping we don’t have to come out here again because it means Georgia’s in trouble,” she said.