Parts of Cumberland Island still closed due to fire

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By Associated Press

For the AJC

Firefighters used hand tools to battle a slow-moving wilderness fire Thursday on Cumberland Island, forcing the National Park Service to close portions of the federally protected island to tourists visiting the Georgia coast.

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Cumberland Island National Seashore, Special Areas of Cumberland Island have been closed at crews battle a wildfire that began Wednesday.

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After burning for more than a day, the fire covered 55 acres — or less than 1/10th of a square mile. While officials said the blaze grew by about 10 acres Thursday, its overall size accounts for a small fraction of the land on Georgia's largest barrier island, which covers 40,000 acres.

"The fire is still burning," Ody Anderson, Cumberland Island fire management officer, told the AJC Thursday afternoon. He estimated it would be "a couple of days" before the fire was fully contained.

Cumberland Island is mostly wilderness but is also home to a few historic19th-century mansions built by wealthy industrialists such as Thomas Carnegie, who owned Cumberland Island before the federal government bought it in 1972.

Maggie Tyler, a Park Service spokeswoman working on the island, said two wilderness camp grounds nearest the fire had been closed. However, visitors were still being allowed to arrive by ferry and van tours along the island's main road were continuing uninterrupted.

"It's not a fast-moving fire, so it's kind of easy to keep it where it is," Tyler said. "On the main road or on the beach, you would see smoke but not see any flame."

The fire posed no immediate threat to any of Cumberland Island's historic structures. Tyler said the nearest, the Carnegie family's Victorian mansion called Plum Orchard, was 2 ½ miles from the blaze. The tiny First African Baptist Church, where John F. Kennedy Jr. married Carolyn Bessette in 1996, is several miles farther north.

The fire was first spotted early Wednesday, and investigators were still working Thursday to determine what caused it. Tyler said periodic fires are crucial to maintaining the island's longleaf pine forests, though this particular blaze wasn't planned.

About 16 firefighters were working Thursday to dig fire breaks in a circle around the blaze by clearing away pine needles and other fuels using hand tools. Some also carried water pumps in backpacks to hose down smoldering hot spots that could otherwise cause the fire to grow.

Fred Boyles, park superintendent for Cumberland Island, said the Yankee Paradise and Hickory Hill campgrounds have both been closed.

The areas will remain closed to the public as long as the fire posed a potential threat. Visitors to the island should check with the Sea Camp Ranger Station or call 912-882-4336 for information on the latest closures affecting hiking trails and campgrounds, Boyles said.

"The fire is dynamic, and trail closures may change rapidly," he said.

Cumberland Island is accessible from the mainland only by boat. Tyler said the fire was not considered enough of a threat Thursday to justify bringing in firefighting bulldozers or to use helicopters to drop water on the blaze — both of which can be destructive to the island's protected wilderness.

Cumberland Island gets about 43,500 visitors each year, with visitation limited to a maximum of 300 people per day.

Winter tends to be much slower. Tyler said only 35 people boarded the ferry to the island Thursday morning.

-- Dispatch Editor Joel Provano contributed to this story.