10-Acre Fire Still Smoldering in Cherokee County

HOLLY SPRINGS, GA -- Crews with the Georgia Forestry Commission continue to fight a 10-acre fire in Cherokee County, and local officials urge residents to set aside any plans for outdoor burning until the area sees some relief in the extreme drought conditions.

Crews with the agency were dispatched to the fire around 10:30 a.m. Sunday at the intersection of Archie Way and Amilou/Amy Lou Circle in Holly Springs, said Wendy Burnett, director of public relations for the commission.

Burnett said crews have set up "containment lines" around the fire in its efforts to battle the blaze.

"It will continue to smoke for a while, and any unburned vegetation will cause it to remain active as well," she added.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, she added.

Cherokee County Fire Chief Tim Prather said the county is "technically" under a no-burn rule for the outdoors. The commission, he stated, is not issuing burn permits for residents and the Cherokee County Fire Marshal's Office is not doling out permits for commercial burning purposes.

The only outside burning allowed under state regulations, he added, are recreational activities such as camp fires or bonfires.

As the county receives request for recreational fires, Prather said his employees are advising against burning as well as informing residents on the potential for these fires to spread and the "huge liability" a property owner would face if that situation were to arise.

In any event, Prather added it's "simply too dangerous" for residents to engage any type of outdoor burning, and asks for those citizens to discard any plans for outside burning until "we get some rain."

"What would normally be a small quarter-half acre fire is turning into many acres burning," he said, noting the agency recently had a 90-acre fire in the Conns Creek area of northeast Cherokee that started from a camp fire. "Folks simply need to reconsider any plans for outdoor burning."

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