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Contained wildfire burning on Fort Stewart
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A wildfire broke out Tuesday in the Fort Stewart training area, but was quickly contained and later burned itself out, post officials reported.

The fire, about seven miles northeast of Hinesville and in the vicinity of Fort Stewart’s small arms ranges, may have been sparked by lightning during a weekend storm, according to Fort Stewart spokesperson Kevin Larson. About 350 acres had burned Tuesday morning, leaving less than 20 acres left to burn, Larson said.

The Directorate of Public Work’s Forestry Branch monitored the fire and treated it the same as a scheduled controlled burn, he said. The roads bordering the fire were ignited as a burn back to further contain the fire, Larson added.

"This is essentially a prescribed burn; we just didn’t start it," Forestry Branch Burn Boss David Pope said. "We are treating it as a prescribed burn. The fire’s behavior is very subdued and not expected to spread beyond the contained area."

Military training was not impacted by the fire and the smoke produced was light, according to Pope.

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