The Great Okefenokee Swamp Fire of 2011

The Great Okefenokee Swamp Fire of 2011

Although much media attention (and rightfully so) has been given to the enormous and devastating wild fires in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas this spring and summer little has been reported about one of the largest wild fires in the history of the Southeast; the great Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge fire that started back on April 28th and has now consumed about 75% of the 400,000 acre refuge.

The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is one of America’s greatest wetlands and is located in southeastern Georgia. This is the largest freshwater swamp in North America covering approximately 700 square miles in both Georgia and Florida.



A regional map identifies the location of the Okefenokee Swamp and National Wildlife Refuge along the border of Georgia and Florida.



The beautiful cypress-swamp landscape of the Okefenokee refuge. During times of drought, such as currently, the water level will fall below the peat surface and make the swamp vulnerable to wild fire. Photo by Robb Helfrick.

Technically, the Okefenokee is not a swamp but rather a peat bog. And, as many of you probably know, peat bog fires are notoriously difficult to extinguish since they can smolder below the swamp surface unseen for days before erupting above ground in fire.

On April 28th lightning started a fire in the southwestern section of the swamp at a location known as Honey Prairie.



An aerial photograph of the initial blaze at Honey Prairie on April 28th. Photo from web page of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

The initial blaze burned about 1,000 acres and then gradually spread over the entire wildlife refuge area until, by July 18th, it had consumed 318,000 acres, almost 75% of the entire 402,000-acre refuge area. It may seem strange that a swamp can burn so out of control for so long but when the water level falls below the level of the peat surface the oily saw palmetto plants that carpet the peat, become a ready fuel source for fires that may have started in the cypress or pine trees as a result of lightning strikes. Even if it rains this just dampens the surface of the peat and the fire can remain smoldering below the surface until eventually the water table rises to extinguish the embers.



Range of the fire as of July 14th. More than 300,000 acres have burned affecting most of the refuge.

An extreme drought has plagued much of southern Georgia since this winter with precipitation at Waycross, Georgia (the nearest weather station to the swamp for which I can find data) averaging only 25% of normal for both the winter (December-February) and spring (March-May) periods this year. Beneficial rains finally began to fall in mid-June and so far this July helping to bring the fire 70% under control at this time although the area is still under an extreme drought situation



The latest drought monitor map from NOAA shows that southern Georgia is still experiencing an extreme drought in spite of recent rains.

Georgia has a large timber industry centered west of the refuge area in Clinch County and this has already suffered losses of around $26.5 million as a result of wild fires so far this year. The worst wild fires in Georgia or Florida history were those that occurred in May 2007 after a truck accident and lightning ignited fires in the Waycross area of Georgia and also in north central Florida. All told 564,450 acres burned before Tropical Storm Barry extinguished the flames the following month.