Wildfire threatened two towns near Okefenokee swamp
A fire truck passes as a plume of smoke rising from a wildfire burning, Monday, May 8, 2017, just outside the town of St. George, Ga. Officials placed the town under a mandatory evacuation after winds pushed the fire out of the neighboring Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, where a lightning strike started the blaze a month earlier. (AP Photo/Russ Bynum)
FOLKSTON, Ga. (AP) — A mandatory evacuation order has been lifted for two south Georgia towns threatened for days last week by a wildfire that had spread outside the boundaries of the neighboring Okefenokee swamp.
Authorities say evacuation orders in place for about a week were rescinded Sunday for the towns of St. George and Moniac on the rim of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Some parts of the fire received up to 2 inches of rain on Saturday as firefighters sought to contain the blaze.
Lightning sparked the fire April 6 in the swamp and it burned more than 150,000 acres (60,700 hectares), mostly in the refuge. More than 800 firefighters and support personnel are fighting the flames.
Authorities say all nearby roads have since reopened except for those inside the refuge.
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