Recent rainfall means that burn permits are no longer banned in the state, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Forestry Commission said Tuesday.
“We’ve turned (the decision-making) over to local resources” with the GFC, spokeswoman Wendy Burnett said.
She said officials won’t be issuing permits “en masse. It’s not an open invitation for anybody and everybody to start burning.”
Instead, officials on a daily basis will issue only as many permits as they feel they could handle if the burns got out of control, Burnett said.
“It’s standard procedure for us,” Burnett said.
Rain has fallen several days since last week in metro Atlanta, including a day in which several tornadoes were reported. This came after a record 43 days with no measurable rain.
Crews have been battling wildfires for more than a month across North Georgia, with more than 50,000 acres affected, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Local firefighters relied on multiple agencies to help battle the flames, some from outside the state.
The Rough Ridge fire in Fannin County, the state’s largest, burned nearly 28,000 acres before it was 95 percent contained last weekend.
The Rock Mountain fire in Rabun County burned nearly 25,000 acres and is expected to be fully contained by Dec. 15.
