_{Carlos Nelson sent this photo of firefighters at work in Waycross, Georgia, on Thursday.}

Storyhighlights
• Wind could push fire into area where firefighters can reach it
• Blaze has destroyed 18 homes; 1,000 people evacuated
• Fire started Monday when tree fell on power line

WAYCROSS, Georgia (AP) -- Gusting wind could help firefighters Friday by pushing a 45-square-mile wildfire from the boggy Okefenokee Swamp to an upland area where it would be easier to control, officials said.



The 20 mph wind forecast Friday could intensify the blaze, which has destroyed 18 houses and forced at least 1,000 people from their homes.

"The fire will be fierce today, but it will be in a place where we can get at it," said Alan Dozier, the state forestry commission's chief firefighter.

The flames jumped a fire break on Thursday into the Okefenokee Swamp and sent a thick haze of smoke through Waycross, a city of about 15,000, said Robin Cole, a spokeswoman for the Forestry Commission.


_{A homeowner helps a firefighter battle the blaze, which destroyed 18 homes.}

About 5,000 people, many of them senior citizens, were urged to leave because of the smoke. Some spent Thursday night at a shelter set up at a middle school.

"We're staying with my friend, a bunch of us -- about 25," said Denise Lott, 45, who fled her mobile home Monday with her grown sons and her bedridden, 80-year-old father. "We're sleeping on floors and in chairs."

Officials said they were unsure when most residents who evacuated their homes would be allowed to return.

"The fire's going to push south, which means Waycross isn't going to see so much heavy smoke and the fire's going away from the town," Cole said Friday. She said higher humidity would also help blunt the fire's spread.


_{A helicopter drops water on the Georgia wildfire.}

The blaze started Monday when a tree fell on a power line. It raced through forested areas, but Cole said it had not entered the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, one of the nation's best-preserved wetland areas. A smaller fire, about 3 square miles, was contained Thursday, said Eric Mosley, spokesman for the Georgia Forestry Commission.


_{A sign in a Waycross resident's yard thanks firefighters for their efforts.}

No deaths were reported, but several firefighters were treated for smoke inhalation or injuries.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.

<sub>Wildfire roars through woods in south Georgia's Ware County on Thursday.

Storyhighlights</sub>
• Blazes rage on in drought-stricken area near vast swamp
• Many residents return to homes after evacuations
• 16-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 1 remains closed
• Fires have scorched 95 square miles in 12 days, destroyed 22 homes

WAYCROSS, Georgia (AP) -- Firefighters worked Friday to keep wildfires from spreading to miles of drought-stricken forest near the Okefenokee Swamp as most residents evacuated from more than 100 homes were allowed to return.

Wildfires have destroyed 22 homes and charred about 61,000 acres, or 95 square miles, of forest in southeast Georgia in 12 days.

"The fire continues and that area is still being monitored closely," said Georgia Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Tracy J. Smith. "We don't want people to get comfortable in that area. The winds have been extremely active."
(Watch families forced to flee with only the clothes they're wearing)

Jamey Cribbs, 21, and his family were ordered to flee their home Thursday for the second time this week in tiny Braganza, three miles southeast of Waycross. But he and his father sneaked in along back roads overnight to make sure no burning ash from the fire fell on their home at the edge of the swamp.

"I'm ready for it to be over," Cribbs said. "It's only been two weeks, but that seems like a lifetime."


_{Waycross, Georgia, resident Retha Thrift looks over remains of her home.}

U.S. Highway 1, which links Waycross with Jacksonville, Florida, remained closed for 16 miles near the entrance of the private, nonprofit Okefenokee Swamp Park.

A second, much smaller fire burned near Nahunta, east of Waycross, where officials said about 30 homes had to be evacuated. Those evacuations were still in effect as of late Friday.

Firefighters contained the blaze near Nahunta last week, but gusty winds caused it to flare back to life Thursday afternoon.
(Watch flames devour trees)

Valdosta firefighter Jeff Thibodeau, who joined the army of firefighters from Georgia and neighboring states helping fight the blaze near Waycross, spent the night shift Thursday replenishing firetrucks with water to keep the fire at bay in the swamp.

"It's aggravating, because you just want to grab it by the throat and put it out," Thibodeau said after coming off his shift Friday morning. "This fire is so big, there's not enough water in the state of Georgia to put it out. All you can do is let it run its course in the woods and protect the structures."

Jason Thornton was losing hope anybody could protect his rural Ware County home in the swamp fire's path. A sheriff's deputy arrived at his door Thursday afternoon ordering his wife, Misty, to leave immediately while the 32-year-old truck driver was at work.
(Watch volunteers try to save a smoky ghost town)

She wasn't even allowed to collect the suitcases and duffel bags they had already packed with spare clothes, a few valuables and insurance and tax documents. Misty Thornton, 28, said she hadn't slept in two days.

"We're basically losing everything we have," Jason Thornton said Thursday night outside a middle-school auditorium where officials gave residents updates on the fire -- but little hope for the Thorntons.

"Things we have built over 11 years, now it could all be gone in seconds."


_{Blackened trees are silhouetted against a smoky sky near Waycross.}

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.