Fire burns 19 acres of land, shed and vehicles on Old Hammett Road

Published 9:11 pm Monday, March 25, 2019

A large fire on Old Hammett Road in Hogansville burned 19 acres of land, half a dozen vehicles and a shed before being controlled and put out Monday.

The Troup County Fire Department responded to the fire at 11:05 a.m. Monday and it wasn’t contained until 2:44 p.m., according to Chief Roy Cadenhead. The fire wasn’t out until much later in the evening, with Monday’s rain expected to help add the finishing knockout.

The fire was not called in by anyone, although Cadenhead estimated it had been going for one to two days. Instead, it was spotted by the Georgia Forestry Commission plane on a recon mission. The plane was involved in helping put out a large brush fire near Lincoln Street in Hogansville — about six miles away. That fire started Sunday evening and burned until around noon Monday.

Cadenhead said the shed was a 30-foot-by-40-foot shed and got near a house at 279 Old Hammett Road, which is where the fire started.

“It’s a wonder it didn’t burn the house down,” Cadenhead said. “We had power lines on the ground, and it burned all the way to the edge.”

Unlike the Lincoln Street fire, helicopters and water drops weren’t used in the Old Hammett Road fire. Instead, the Georgia Forestry Commission used tractors and plows to get the fire contained, Cadenhead said. Cadenhead said the fire almost reached Hammett Road.

Cadenhead said it appears nobody lived in the house, but there were three dogs inside that were removed by the Troup County Marshal’s Office. Cadenhead said the vehicles burned appeared to be abandoned in the woods.

Cadenhead said the low humidity this weekend made it a dangerous time for fires. All of central and north Georgia was under a high fire danger warning this past weekend.

He said anyone burning needs to be extremely careful. Even after Monday’s rain, he said it won’t be long before it dries out again.

“Really make sure the fire is out when you say it’s going to be out,” Cadenhead said.