Weekend Fires in Northeast Georgia Kills Woman, Injures Two Others
It was a weekend of fires in Northeast Georgia and the Upstate.
In Rabun County, an early morning house fire Sunday killed one woman and seriously injured a man in Tiger.
The Georgia Department of Insurance / State Fire Marshal’s Office said it happened about 8:30a Sunday morning at a home on Creek Road.
Is identified as 61-year old Glenn Burrell. Burrell suffered burns to his face and head.
Another man who was also in the house suffered minor injuries.
Firefighters later found the body of the female victim in a hallway inside the house once they were able to get inside.
The body was sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation State Crime Lab for autopsy.
Her identity has not been released.
The Rabun County Sheriff’s Office, Rabun County fire marshal and the state fire marshal’s office will be back on the scene today to determine a cause of that blaze.
Stephens County fire officials release details on this weekend’s wildfire along Georgia Highway 365.
According to Stephens County Volunteer Fire Services Coordinator Jamey Gettys, authorities were notified by 911 at about 3:41 pm. Saturday to respond to a wildfire just above the Jeanette Jamieson Intersection on Highway 365.
Gettys says that when the first units arrived, they observed a large wildfire moving north from the roadside.
He says that the Georgia Forestry Commission was notified, along with several other Stephens County fire stations and Habersham County fire units.
Gettys said the U.S. Forest Service also responded because the fire was primarily on Forest Service property.
According to Gettys, the forest service called in a helicopter that was dropping water on the fire from the air, while dozers from Georgia Forestry and the Forest Service put in a fire break around the fire to stop its progress.
He says a U.S. Forest Service crew was also in the area from out of town and assisted.
Gettys says Forestry crews set back fires to burn out the unburned fuels inside the breaks, while Stephens County stationed several fire trucks in the Trestle Ridge subdivision, The Summit subdivision, and around the rock quarry to protect the homes in those areas.
In all, Gettys says he estimates that they had about 50 firefighters between all agencies involved, four dozers, a tanker, seven engines and three brush trucks.
He says the exact size and cause is undetermined at this time but the helicopter advised that it was around 60 acres.
Gettys says it took about three hours to bring the fire under control and after that, the fire departments left and the forest service stayed on scene to continue burnout operations.
And no one was injured Sunday when a fire in Baldwin in Banks County destroyed a detached garage and burned about five acres near Alto.
It happened Sunday afternoon on Garland White Road.
Authorities say the blaze threatened homes nearby but did not spread.
There were no injuries.
Charlie Bauder, WNEG Radio, contributed to this story