The Florida Times Union

Firefighters who lost their lives in wildfire remembered

The Lake City community is paying their respects to two firefighters who died battling one of Florida’s wildfires.

Services are being held this weekend for Division of Forestry firefighters Josh Burch and Brett Fulton, who lost their lives Monday night while fighting the Blue Ribbon Fire in Hamilton County. Services for Burch were held Friday, and Fulton’s funeral is set for 10 a.m. today at the same church, Christ Central Ministries Church in Lake City.

Both men died after winds shifted and blew the fire over their bulldozer. State Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam announced the firefighters’ names Tuesday, saying his prayers go out to their families and loved ones who are now mourning men he called “courageous heroes who sacrificed their lives for the safety of others,” according to a news release.

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Winds push thick smoke as far east as St. Simons | jacksonville.com

Thick, brownish smoke and snow-white ash pushed by shifting afternoon winds Wednesday fueled residents' fears that two new fires in Ware and Charlton counties were making a run at containment lines plowed by Georgia Forestry Commission crews the night before.

Lightning likely sparked both fires, which were estimated at less than 50 acres each, said Eric Mosley, a Forestry Commission spokesman.

The first was burning near Footlong Road north of Georgia 84 and just south of the Sweat Farm Again Fire in Ware County. The other blaze was near Chesser Road just south of the main entrance of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Charlton County, Mosley said.

Those and the neighboring Honey Prairie and Race Pond fires blanketed Southeast Georgia as far east as St. Simons Island with acrid, eye-watering smoke Wednesday.

"It's really, really scary out here," Angie Miller of Brunswick said while on Georgia 121 near Hoboken about 4 p.m.

Miller said she was en route to the Fort Mudge area to check on the home of her boyfriend, who is out of town working construction.

"I don't see any flames or anything ... [but] the smoke is so bad. It's like the fire is right there behind the trees by the road," Miller said.

Firefighters were on guard for increased and erratic fire behavior because of the continuing hot, dry weather, shifting winds because of the late afternoon sea breeze and the abundance of tinder-dry vegetation. They were aided by aerial water drops worked overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning to contain the Footlong and Chesser fires. They did mop-up and reinforced the fire lines throughout the day.

"Late last night [Tuesday], the main fire was burning so hot it was starting to create thunder clouds," Mosley said.

Pockets of vegetation continue to burn in the Sweat Farm Again Fire. Estimated at 80 percent contained, it had burned about 20,000 acres by midday, Mosley said.

He said the Race Pond Fire, estimated at about 50 percent contained, had burned a little more than 25,000 acres.

Meanwhile, Georgia fire crews were mourning their two fallen Florida Division of Forestry colleagues, Josh Burch and Brett Fulton, who lost their lives Monday night while fighting the Blue Ribbon Fire in Hamilton County. Both men died when winds shifted and blew the fire over their bulldozer.

"The wildfire arena is a very small community. We all kind of know each other," Mosley said. "We've had moments of silence during our morning briefings to honor these fallen heroes.

The Florida times-union, Jacksonville, Fla., Dec. 31st, 1914

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