Georgia Wildfire, Smoke, and Air Quality Map

Fire season and landscape

Georgia's wildfire activity concentrates in the dry months from late winter through spring, with fall flare-ups in drought years, especially in the north Georgia mountains. The state's prescribed burning program is among the largest in the country, and winter hotspot detections across the coastal plain are usually planned burns. Deep droughts can ignite the Okefenokee's peat soils, producing fires that burn for months and smoke that travels well beyond the swamp.

The Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests cover the Blue Ridge in the north plus a piedmont unit, while the southern half of the state is coastal plain pine managed with frequent prescribed fire. The Okefenokee Swamp in the southeast holds deep peat that can burn for months once drought-dried. Between the mountains and the swamp, Georgia's fire behavior mostly follows fuel moisture and wind rather than terrain.

• Winter and early spring hotspots across the coastal plain are overwhelmingly prescribed burns; the 7-day hotspot layer shows the burn pattern moving across counties.
• An established Okefenokee peat fire is a months-long smoke source; the smoke layer shows how far the plume reaches on a given day.
• North Georgia's fall fire risk builds with drought; the drought layer over the Chattahoochee high country is the leading indicator.