Some of the Brantley County fire survivors are living with relatives. Some are sleeping in cars. Others need to rely on charity, because everything they have is now ash.
Ginger Hunter, a Brantley County resident whose wedding business in Waynesville and home burned in the Brantley County fire. May 15, 2026
Nearly a month since the blaze ravaged this bucolic part of southern Georgia, the families whose homes and businesses were destroyed are trying to get back a semblance of normal life, like Ginger Hunter. A mother of four, Hunter’s small wedding business in Waynesville along with her daughter’s neighboring dress shop and their family home burned completely.
Her family has no power and no roof — and no savings to rebuild. But the family rallied Saturday to celebrate her 18-year-old son’s graduation from Heritage Christian Academy in Brunswick. Just like she does every day, she turned to her faith to find the strength and resources to get back on her feet.
Hunter and the dozens of Brantley families in her same position have not yet received disaster assistance from the state or the federal government despite the scale of devastation — nearly 200 homes and businesses have been destroyed. And for now, no one can tell them when they might be eligible for the loans and programs that many Americans and communities rely on after a disaster.
“It’s like my soul has been torn away,” Hunter said about losing the home where she raised her children. “It’s exhausting,” she said, but also lonely. “It’s like we have been overlooked and forgotten.”
Firefighters are still putting out hotspots, and the process to getting federal aid to Southeast Georgia is a long one, as Hunter found out Friday when Kelly Loeffler, the head of the Small Business Administration and Trump administration cabinet member, came to visit Brantley and get an assessment of the needs.
Kelly Loeffler, the head of the Small Business Administration, and Chris Snelling, the deputy administrator for disaster recovery, speaking with Ginger Hunter at the burned remains of her Brantley County small business. May 15, 2026
After natural disasters, two federal agencies provide aid and assistance to local communities. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is fairly well known for helping rebuild bridges, roads and other infrastructure after hurricanes and flooding. The SBA, meanwhile, is the agency that helps people, providing government subsidized loans to help home owners, business owners and renters get the cash they need to get back on their feet, even when other lenders or insurance companies won’t.
But the process to unlock these resources for Brantley residents is still at the first stage, explained Chris Stallings, the SBA deputy administrator who is in charge of disaster assistance.
First, a full damage assessment needs to be completed. That goes beyond counting damaged buildings and includes assessments of infrastructure like power lines and roads. And the assessment can only finish when the fire is fully extinguished. As of Friday, containment was around 90%, as forest rangers continued what they call “mop up operations” deep in the pine forests that cover Brantley, as well as Clinch and Echols.
Burned vehicles sit at Morgan Automotive Service after the Highway 82 fire burned through the area in Brantley County, Ga., Monday, April 27, 2026.
The damage assessment is compiled by local and state officials, and federal workers such as those at the SBA are staying in communication with them, said Snelling. Once the assessment is complete, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has to approve and designate a formal disaster declaration. Only at that point would federal officials be able to start applications for Brantley residents to receive loans, Snelling said. “We need a state declaration first,” he said. “We get a request from the governor’s office that addresses needs. Then we rally our teams.”
Small businesses can borrow up to $2 million in 30-year low-interest rate loans. Homeowners can borrow up to $500,000 in 30-year low-interest rate loans. Renters are eligible for up to $100,000 in assistance. And those loans are available for people who had no insurance or who were underinsured, said Snelling.
The resources represent a vital opportunity for someone like Hunter, who had no insurance on her property or her business. The costs, she said, were too high, especially as she was raising a family. She was building her life the right way, she said. Her home and business were both paid off, and she was debt free before the fire. Still, her cash flow didn’t allow for insurance to be a consideration.
Last month, when all she worked for went up into flames, the lack of insurance wasn’t her top concern. Instead she mourned the loss of all her children’s photos and momentoes, as well as the the history of the chapel that she bought and turned into a center of community joy and memories.
When she was finally allowed back to see her properties after the fires were tamed, she found nothing recognizable but a few broken tea cups, she said.
Ginger Hunter’s family lost everything in the Brantley County fire, and had to rely on family photos posted online over the years to decorate her 18-year-old son’s senior table at graduation Saturday May 16, 2026.
On the night before her son’s graduation, her homesickness was too much to bear. She went home, spent the night on a mattress under the sky, in the cool air and woke up to hear the familiar bird song that makes her love her county. “It’s the place that speaks to my soul. Too much time away and I don’t feel grounded anymore,” she said.
Meeting with Hunter on Friday, neither Loeffler nor Snelling could tell her a time frame about when to expect the disaster relief. They promised, however, to move quickly once the governor did. “We serve all customers who come to us,” said Loeffler, a former U.S. senator from Georgia. “We give them certainty and a path to stability.”
Hunter says that she needs $60,000 in immediate assistance in order to try to put her home in order. She has scoped out a double-wide trailer to purchase as a temporary home, and has put a down payment to rent a plot outside of Brantley to put it on. But she can’t afford to move forward without more cash. And she’s loath to go into debt.
In the meantime, Hunter has also set up a GoFundMe fundraiser to help with recovery efforts. The fundraiser, titled “Hope 4 Our Future After Fire in Brantley Co GA,” can be found here.
“We need to reestablish home first, so we aren’t living in campers or homeless. One we get the porch light on, then we can move to the next step about rebuilding our business,” Hunter said.
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