Despite Drought, Few Brush Fires Reported in Dawson County

DAWSONVILLE, Ga. — Monday, Gov. Nathan Deal banned the ignition of fireworks in counties the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Division have declared to be in a drought area.

Those counties in north Georgia include Dawson, Fannin, Forsyth, Habersham, Lumpkin, Pickens, Rabun, and Union.
Fetch Your News reached out today to Dawson County Fire Services to see if the fire department had encountered many brush fires in the last week.

Assistant Fire Chief Danny Speaks was happy to report that the department has responded to very few calls, considering the extreme drought conditions that exist.

“We’ve really not had a lot of problems at all,” he said. “Our citizens seem to be paying attention and are mindful of the drought conditions. The biggest problem is all this smoke from the forest fires in Fannin and Rabun counties.”

Speaks said Dawson County Emergency Services Director Lanier Swafford has done a good job of educating the public about a program called Firewise Communities The program is co-sponsored by the USDA Forest Service, the US Department of the Interior, and the National Association of State Foresters that shows brush, grass and forest fires don’t have to be disasters.

The program encourages local solutions for safety by involving homeowners in taking individual responsibility for preparing their homes from the risk of wildfire.

Speaks also said he was happy to learn of the governor’s ban on fireworks.