February 28, 2007
Hahira - It was one of Jordan Cooper's scariest moments. "I was on the interstate coming home on the school bus and saw the fire from the interstate and thought it was at my house. And it was at my house," Cooper says.
His family's home was one of ten threatened by a 300-acre wildfire in Hahira.
We could only see heavy smoke and small flames, but firefighters say just beyond the woods it was a different situation. "It's still being threatened definitely, because right behind that house is a low lying area, and the flames are down. We've knocked down the fire some, but we do have a lot of hot spots. It wasn't 15-20 minutes ago we had 40-foot flames crowning on top of those trees behind us," says Hahira Fire Chief Dwight Bennett.
The fire has been contained but fire fighters say these smaller hot spots must be monitored to assure they don't re-ignite. "What's on the ground here, if it catches on these twigs, it can ignite and burn through this area a second time through the tops of the trees," says Paige Dukes, Public Information Officer for Lowndes County.
Firefighters believe it was a controlled burn fueled by the wind that destroyed the woods and Jordan's backyard. "Because of our deer hunting, they messed up the woods but that's okay."
But he's just happy to still have a home.
While firefighters were battling this blaze, Lowndes Fire and Rescue was fighting four other smaller fires throughout the county.
Feedback: news@walb.com?subject=HahiraFire
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2013 Worldnow and WALB, a Raycom Media Station. 
