Want to stop wildfires? Don’t throw lit cigarettes out your car window

Two massive wildfires have scorched more than 55,000 acres in South Georgia, forced hundreds of people from their homes, and put 626 firefighters to work in brutal conditions, and that’s just the two biggest fires. The state has reported dozens of smaller fires in the last three weeks. Despite all this, the Georgia Forestry Commission apparently still needs to remind some residents not to flick burning cigarettes out their car windows.

It is a baffling declaration, and one most Georgians learned about in grade school from a bear named Smokey.

What’s happening: The Commission is asking the public to fully put out cigarettes before throwing them away, stop tossing them from moving vehicles, and use a proper container instead of the ground.

The fires, briefly: The Pineland Road Fire has burned 32,575 acres across Clinch and Echols counties and is 44% contained. The Highway 82 Fire in Brantley County has burned 22,532 acres and is 45% contained after rain moved in Saturday. Hundreds of residents have been evacuated. A mandatory curfew is still in effect in parts of Brantley County. The entire state is in drought, and south Georgia is in an exceptional drought — the most severe level forecasters recognize.

Why this matters: A single unextinguished cigarette can ignite dry grass in seconds, the Commission says. South Georgia’s fuel conditions right now are about as dry as they get.

The path forward: The burn ban covering all of south Georgia remains in effect. With drought conditions not going anywhere, fire officials say the risk of new fires starting — whether from balloons, bad luck, or breathtaking carelessness — remains high across the state.