Officials detail Brantley County wildfire, mutual aid and recovery work

Chuck White, joined by emergency management partners, told the Camden County Board of Commissioners that the recent Brantley County wildfire burned roughly 22,500 acres (about 35 square miles), was approximately 85% contained at the time of the briefing, and destroyed about 112 homes with additional properties damaged.

White described a large, multi-jurisdictional response that at peak involved roughly 1,000 first responders, air assets from across state lines, and unified command transitioning to an incident management team. He credited Georgia Forestry, local fire departments and faith-based and volunteer organizations for logistics and on-the-ground support.

White said Camden County prepositioned resources and participated in the response to protect residents and infrastructure, and described standing up an immediate-needs recovery unit to address shelter, food, water and other needs for evacuees and those who lost homes. He cited coordinated VOAD efforts (including the Red Cross and the Salvation Army), church-led points of distribution, and a multi-agency resource and information center established at a local elementary school that served more than 130 people.

"At our peak, we were 1,000 first responders," White said. "Partnerships protect Camden County, and I think we've got great partnerships going forward." He said recovery work will include an after-action report and continuing lessons learned to improve regional preparedness.

Commissioners and the public discussed mutual aid agreements, the role of the Brantley County airport as a staging area and the value of prearranged communications and logistics. County staff said they would continue to monitor lingering hotspots and coordinate recovery services with regional partners.