By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press
SAVANNAH, Ga. – A wildfire that scorched hundreds of square miles since last spring continues to creep through the Okefenokee Swamp as it burns underground fueled by dead and decaying plants – and the cost to taxpayers so far is $52.7 million and rising.
It’s been six months since a lightning strike ignited the Honey Prairie fire April 28, deep within the boundaries of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge near the Georgia-Florida line. There’s little if any active flame and the smoke that once smothered much of southeast Georgia has been reduced to sporadic puffs wafting up from the swamp’s surface.
“It’s burning down mostly underground,” said Arthur Webster, supervisory ranger for the 402,000-acre refuge. “It’s burning deeply enough where occasionally a tree will just fall over because all the peat is burned out around it.”