Snow Smothers Forest Fires in South

Rain and snow doused wildfires in the South and Southeast Wednesday, but federal forestry officials warned that the relief may be temporary from blazes that have burned more than 350,000 acres of woodlands.

“It (rain and snow) did a lot of folks some good, but how good it did depends on how quick the moisture is going to dry out,” said Doug Williams, an officer with the U.S. Forest Service in Atlanta.

“There is still pretty high fire danger in Mississippi, Alabama and central Georgia, extending into the weekend. The meteorologist says there is no additional moisture moving into those areas,” Williams said.

“We’ve got about an inch of snow over most of our area,” said Randall Parris, district forester for the state forestry department in Abingdon, Va.

Parris said the snow “most definitely” helped put out smoldering fires, but he said the two inches of moisture wasn’t quite enough to bring an end to the fall fire season. He said if the sun comes out over the weekend and dries out the leaves, the fire danger will return.