From a simple lightning strike in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge on April 6, a wildfire in south Georgia has now grown to 143,893 acres. What exactly does that mean? For some perspective, that equals approximately 224 square miles. The city of Atlanta is approximately 134 square miles. The North Georgia fires last fall/winter, the Rough Ridge Fire and Rock Mountain Fire, burned approximately 50,000 acres.
A shot of the West Mims fire as seen from space
As of yet, this fire is not near a record. Some readers may remember the Bugaboo Scrub Fire in 2007, smoke from that fire eventually filtered over Atlanta and it was bad enough to cause some asthma sufferers to seek refuge indoors. That fire was over 600,000 acres or nearly 950 square miles. Rhode Island is 1,200 square miles. The Bugaboo, named for the island struck by lightning, ultimately was deemed the largest fire in Georgia history and the largest fire in the lower 48 states in a century.
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