Georgia Agencies Receive Wildfire Training

State and federal agencies are training in southeast Georgia to battle wildfires from the ground and in the air.

The Georgia Forestry Commission and six of its partner agencies are in the middle of four days of training exercises in the Waycross area that end Friday.

Organizers say firefighters on the ground will practice backing and flanking wildfires using tractor plows. Helicopter pilots, meanwhile, are working on dousing fires from above with giant buckets filled with water.

Also participating in the training sessions are members of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the State Patrol, the National Guard, Chatham County, the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Forest Service.