As a wildfire spread in Rabun County, some residents were evacuated, and the U.S. Forest Service began to establish a command post there, according to details posted on Facebook.
The Rock Mountain Fire is now about 900 acres and burning about 10 miles north of Clayton, the forest service said. The human-caused fire jumped containment lines Friday afternoon, according to the post.
The Rabun County Sheriff’s Department has issued an evacuation order for residents on Coleman River Road and Nichols Branch Road, the post said. A shelter has been established at Liberty Baptist Church in Tiger. Displaced residents will have access to shelter, bedding, food and other supplies.
“The fire is burning steady with four-five foot flame lengths,” said Jason Engle, acting district ranger for the Chattooga River Ranger District. “It’s not moving fast, but it’s not easy to stop either. Steep and rugged terrain makes safe firefighting difficult.”
Teka Earnhardt, executive director of the Rabun County Tourism Development Authority, said in an email to a local official that the forest service will be using Rabun County as a North Georgia command center, according to the Clayton Tribune.
“We will have an influx of hundreds to thousands of people beginning Monday to the county,” Earnhardt wrote. “They will be working 16-hour shifts but will be based here for at least the next two weeks.”
Rabun County is about 110 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta.
Also, crews still are battling the fire in the Cohutta Wilderness area of Fannin County, which has grown to 13,000 acres, The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.
In Tennessee, a man has been arrested in connection with fires there, the Chattanooga Times-Free Press reported.
Andrew Scott Lewis is charged with three counts of setting fire to personal property or land and vandalism over $250,000, according to the report.
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