Wildfire in Clinch, Georgia

On the 18th of April, the Pineland Road fire ignited over southern Clinch County, rapidly growing to 2500 acres by the 19th of April due to favorable conditions. The area of Fargo Highway to Tiger Lake Road was urged to prepare to evacuate as a result. Evacuations expanded to the Colon area on the 21st of April, as the fire reached approximately 16500 acres in size. By the 22nd of April, the fire reached about 32183 acres in size, and at least 5 roads in Clinch County were closed. Impacts from smoke reached areas such as Homerville and Fargo by the 27th of April due to a change in wind direction, as the fire continued to burn at approximately 32540 acres in size. By the 29th of April, Clinch County Emergency Management released a 3 level map featuring evacuation zones due to the fire, with a large area of thousands of acres under a mandatory evacuation. The fire reached 40% containment by the evening of April 30th. The estimated cost of the wildfire was around $14-15 million.

Extreme to exceptional drought continued or worsened for the majority of the region throughout the month of April. This, combined with many days of breezy to gusty wind conditions, resulted in a large wildfire over inland southeast Georgia.