Last week, multiple wildfires caught flame in drought-stricken Georgia and have been raging since, burning through tens of thousands of acres and sending parts of Georgia into peril against the two largest active wildfires in the country at the moment.

One of the main two fires, the Highway 82 fire in Brantley County that started Monday April 20, has already burned over 20,000 acres as of Sunday night. It is believed that the fire was started by a foil balloon hitting power lines.The second of the main fires, the Pineland Road fire in Clinch and Echols counties, has burned over 32,000 acres.

The two fires are among some of the largest active fires in the nation in terms of size. An interactive app from the nonprofit Western Fire Chiefs Association details the location of the fires and how they have evolved over the past week. Another app, from nonprofit American Forests, similarly shows wildfires throughout the country, as does a Georgia-specific app from Cornea.

Gov. Brian Kemp toured some of the areas ravaged by the fires and spoke to reporters on Friday morning.

“The two fires we’re fighting… the Pineland fire and the Highway 82 fire, rank number one and two in the country. So we got the two most dangerous, biggest, problematic fires anywhere in the United States,” Kemp said. “As you can imagine, it’s a lot for us to have to deal with.”

Just two days before on April 22, the Georgia Forestry Commission issued the state’s first-ever mandatory burn ban, effective for 30 days, for 91 counties in the lower half of the state where the threat of wildfires is greatest. Additionally, Kemp issued a state of emergency for those same counties.

The fires are already proving to be some of the most damaging in state history; at the time of the Friday press conference, Kemp said that over 120 homes had been destroyed by the fires, which had already burned 40,000 acres; the governor added that his team believes these fires have resulted in the most lost homes by wildfire in the history of the state. 

As of Sunday, April 27, over 50,000 acres have burned across the state, with that number expected to grow. The Highway 82 and Pineland Road fires are about six and 10 percent contained, respectively, according to the Western Fire Chiefs Association’s fire tracker as of Sunday night. 

Kemp said there were over 160 homes potentially in harm’s way as of Friday, and that protecting those homes is a top priority as officials work to contain these fires. WSBTV reports that the National Guard has already dumped tens of thousands of gallons of water to suppress the fires, and look to continue doing so as needed.

Along with concerns to the safety of residents, wildlife and homes in the paths of fire comes concerns of lowered air quality, too. Smoke from the fires traveled as far as Metro Atlanta, Savannah, and parts of northern Florida with some residents posting photos of hazy skies. 

The fire smoke has made it to Atlanta pic.twitter.com/JDBvAvzhrA

— Everything Georgia (@GAFollowers) April 22, 2026

Wow, the smoke and smell of burning plastic from the GA fires has permeated the entire city of Atlanta. pic.twitter.com/JG81CUxZNJ

— kelxi (@whenskiesrgray_) April 22, 2026

“The biggest thing is, it is going to get worse,” said Dr. Ted Russell, a researcher at Georgia Tech who leads the Southeastern Center for Air Pollution & Epidemiology (SCAPE) lab. “We are in an historic drought; the fire maps are already looking bad,” he said. 

That means threats of unhealthy air quality could get worse, too; wildfires, explained Russell, can release a number of chemicals like volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), which — catalyzed by reactions with sunlight — can form the gas ozone.

“It is not just smoke. The emissions can also lead to ozone formation,” Russell said. “On warm, sunny days you’re going to start getting elevated levels of ozone, and when you add fire to it it can go up even further.”

In the stratosphere high above the Earth surface, ozone provides a protective layer from ultraviolet radiation from the sun. At ground level, however, too much ozone can create smog, lowering the air quality, and contribute to respiratory problems that manifest in things like asthma attacks, especially for vulnerable populations — not to mention stressing vegetation and other wildlife.

This is especially relevant with the newly released American Lung Association’s 2026 “State of the Air” report, which found nearly half of all Americans live in places with unhealthy PM 2.5 or ozone levels.

PM 2.5 — particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers — is a class of small, fine particles that humans can inhale and cause respiratory issues, as well as haze in the environment.

“It’s the small particles from the fire, that have been shown to have a number of adverse outcomes,” said Russell, adding that other materials burned in widespread fires like lead and chlorine can also contribute to emission toxicity, and that mixing smoke from wildfires with urban emissions can exacerbate problems.

Of the five core counties of Metro Atlanta — Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett and Clayton — Fulton and DeKalb both scored F for air quality, with Gwinnett scoring a D in the American Lung Association’s State of the Air report. Cobb scored B and Clayton was unlisted.

That said, as of March 31 of this year, the Atlanta area (Georgia Region IV) defined in the EPA’s Green Book lists the five counties, plus Henry and Bartow counties, as “maintenance” for 8-Hour Ozone  — a status indicating the region is aligned with federal standards for air quality, though on the borderline. For PM 2.5, like most of the country, the Metro Atlanta area met national standards.

The difference in assessment between the American Lung Association’s report and the EPA’s Green Book come from significantly different methodologies for assessing air quality, which are outlined here.

The perfect storm

Georgia is one of several states enduring severe droughts — helping to create an environment ripe for fires like this. The National Weather Service (NWS) reports “exceptional drought” conditions across Southeast Alabama, Southwest Georgia, and the Florida Panhandle and Big Bend.

According to the NWS Atlanta, 98 percent of Georgia is in a Severe Drought (D2) designation or worse. Moreover, around 27 percent of Georgia is categorized as Exceptional Drought (D4) — the highest level of drought.

“Really we need a change in the weather — I was telling Marty [Kemp], we got to get her not only her ‘pray shirt’, but a ‘pray for rain’ shirt, because that’s what we need,” said Kemp. “We need a change in the weather, but until we get that we are just going to stay after these fires and do everything we can to keep them contained and also protect homes and obviously, lives.”

The Georgia Forestry Commission has an active prescribed burn program that helps manage ecosystem health and prevent larger wildfires like the ones burning now.

“This active management does effectively reduce the change and the size of wildfires; obviously, we still get them, but it does reduce their magnitude and frequency and makes them easier to control once they start,” Russell said. “Having a drought, of course, puts much more pressure on your mitigation activities.”

Prescribed burns are banned by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division from May through the end of September in 54 Georgia counties, mostly in the northern half of the state, due to increased levels of ground ozone during those months and the threat fire emissions could have mixing with those increased ozone levels.

“Fires are probably going to be one of the biggest issues that we’re going to have to deal with in the future,” said Russell about the country on a grander scale. “If you look at how air quality was improving, pollutant levels were coming down, and in recent years it sort of leveled off, and in some states it’s starting to go up purely because of forest fires; the increasing emissions from forest fires are greater than the decreases from all the anthropogenic sources. So we’re going to see it, and unless we do something more to control it, that’s going to become a more frequent and noticeable impact on our lives.”

The forecast for this week suggests rain and thunderstorms could be possible in parts of Georgia, with select areas receiving up to 2 inches of rain by the end of the week, but not enough to make significant drought improvement.

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