Georgia Wildfires Destroy Homes, Kill Florida Firefighter as Smoke Reaches Treasure Coast

A volunteer firefighter from Nassau County is dead and two fast-moving wildfires near the Florida state line have destroyed more than 120 homes as a record-breaking fire season grips the Southeast and pushes smoky haze southward toward the Treasure Coast.

James "Kevin" Crews, a Nassau County Sheriff's Office volunteer firefighter, died Thursday evening after suffering a medical emergency while suppressing a brush fire in northern Florida, officials said. He is the first fire-related fatality reported in the current outbreak.

The smoke and risk are not abstract for Treasure Coast residents. More than 150 active wildfires are burning across Georgia and Florida, according to public records. Air quality warnings have been issued for communities far from the flames. Residents in Martin, St. Lucie, and Indian River counties with respiratory conditions — including the estimated one in 12 Floridians who live with asthma — face elevated health risk on days when wind carries smoke south along the peninsula.

The two most destructive fires are burning in southeastern Georgia. The Highway 82 Fire, ignited Monday when a foil balloon struck live power lines and created an electrical arc that set ground material ablaze, has destroyed at least 87 homes — the most from a single wildfire in Georgia history, Gov. Brian Kemp said Friday. As of Saturday morning, the fire had burned a perimeter of more than 14.8 square miles and was only about 10 percent contained.

A second fire, roughly 70 miles to the southwest in Clinch and Echols counties near the Florida state line, has consumed more than 46.9 square miles and destroyed at least 35 homes. That fire, sparked by a welding operation, was also about 10 percent contained as of midday Saturday, a public news release stated.

Brantley County Manager Joey Cason warned residents Saturday morning in a video posted to social media that conditions could deteriorate rapidly. "This fire is going to move rapidly once these winds get here later today," Cason said. He urged anyone under evacuation order to leave immediately.

Scientists say this spring's unusual fire activity reflects a convergence of extreme drought, gusty winds, climate change, and dead timber left across Southern forests by Hurricane Helene in 2024 — the same storm that battered Florida's west coast. That debris has become dry fuel across vast stretches of forest from Georgia to the Panhandle.

An infrared mapping flight conducted overnight Friday is helping Georgia fire managers better track the Highway 82 Fire's perimeter. No containment timeline has been confirmed for either fire.

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