FARGO — Recent rain and several days of relative calm have allowed firefighters to draw down their forces battling the Okefenokee Swamp fire, but that doesn’t mean the blaze is close to being extinguished.

“Three inches of rain is not going to solve our problem,” said Annaleata Winter, public information officer for the West Mims Fire command post.

The firefighting contingent was 833 people Wednesday, down from more than 1,000 at one point, according to a statement from the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Some firefighters who had been doing precautionary work in the north end of the swamp had been released while others had been sent to bolster the more active southern zone, she said.

Rain that came through Tuesday and Wednesday may give firefighters a few more days of relative calm to work in but won’t make a major dent in the fire itself, Winter said.

“In some places, peat is burning a foot underground,” she said. About two to four inches of rain, unevenly distributed throughout the swamp, was expected out of the storms, Winter said.

“We should have about a week of calmness before (the fire) could puff back up again,” she said.

Officials have said it could take months for the blaze to burn out.

The wildlife refuge and the Stephen C. Foster State Park remain closed, and a no-fly zone remains in place above the blaze. The fire has remained around 152,400 acres for several days.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.