The Latest: Giant air tanker to attack vast Georgia wildfire

A fire truck passes as a plume of smoke rising from a wildfire burning, Monday, May 8, 2017, just outside the town of St. George, Ga. Officials placed the town under a mandatory evacuation after winds pushed the fire out of the neighboring Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, where a lightning strike started the blaze a month earlier. (AP Photo/Russ Bynum) A fire truck passes as a plume of smoke rising from a wildfire burning, Monday, May 8, 2017, just outside the town of St. George, Ga. Officials placed the town under a mandatory evacuation after winds pushed the fire out of the neighboring Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, where a lightning strike started the blaze a month earlier. (AP Photo/Russ Bynum)

By Associated Press May 9, 2017 2 min read

ST. GEORGE, Ga. (AP) – The Latest on a vast wildfire threatening communities near the Georgia-Florida state line (all times local):

12:15 p.m.

Firefighters are calling in a giant air tanker to attack a wildfire threatening communities near the Georgia-Florida state line.

Susan Heisey is a spokeswoman for the fire command team. She said the modified DC-10 jetliner was scheduled to dump retardant Tuesday on the blaze in southeast Georgia after taking off from Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The company that contracts with the U.S. Forest Service to provide the giant planes is 10 Tanker Air Carrier. The company says on its website that the aircraft can carry 11,600 gallons (44,000 liters) of water or fire retardant. The company says that’s four times more than any other firefighting planes.