Georgia forestry officials describe large-scale post-storm recovery, prescribe-fire gains and long-term wildfire risk

Mr. Sabo, director of the Georgia Forestry Commission, told the Natural Resources & Environment committee that his agency mobilized hundreds of staff and tapped interagency partners to respond to storm damage from Helene and to begin longer-term recovery and resilience work.

The forestry agency “is an emergency response organization,” Mr. Sabo said, adding that roughly 400 of the agency’s 524 employees serve as emergency responders and that 289 personnel deployed to other states during recent incidents. He said the commission conducted prescribed burns on “a little over a million and a half acres” last year and that the agency cleared roughly 40,000 miles of roadways during the post-storm response.

Why it matters: Lawmakers were told the immediate response — debris clearance, generator deliveries to nursing homes, aviation support and backhauling trailers — transitions into a long recovery that depends on market capacity, contractor availability and federal program enrollments. That dependency will shape whether damaged timber is salvaged, how quickly fuel mitigation can proceed and how communities manage elevated fire risk over the next several years.

Key facts and figures

- Agency staffing and deployments: Mr. Sabo said about 400 of 524 employees are…