The fires in Southeast Georgia are affecting wildlife as well as people. The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is home to more than 400 species of birds, mammals, reptiles and fish.
It's hard to gauge the long-term impact these fires are having on the animals, but U-S Fish and Wildlife Ranger Sally Gentry says she’s optimistic.
"These fires are part of a natural cycle of the Okenfenokee Swamp so most of the animals that inhabit this area are conditioned over generations to have adaptations to deal with this," says Gentry.
She says mammals, especially black bears, are the hardest hit. They've roamed into neighboring timber forests.
The fires and drought, she says, are forcing alligators, fish and turtles to share closer living space.
But well before the fires started, rangers had cleared the brush around the trees where the endangered red cockaded woodpecker makes its home.
Other animals, like the gopher tortoise, have dug burrows, where they're waiting out the fires.
