Gulf State Park Fire Aftermath

While the fire slowly burns out it has left a big mark on acres of parkland.

GULF SHORES, Alabama - The fire should be out in the next couple of days. It poses no threat to homes or property. Things are looking a lot better at the Gulf State Park today than they were one week ago when this fire started--while the battle over this fire may be nearly over, the wait to watch nature replenish itself is just beginning/

“A lot of people come to places like this so they can enjoy nature so that's going to impact what's here,” says Regional Forester Gary Cole. The fire has left a huge mark on the park. Hundreds of trees and acres of land have been destroyed. It while take awhile for much of that ecosystem to grow back—especially the 50 year old Spanish Live Oak trees.

“Those are probably going to perish they've been burned and probably got hot enough inside the bark to kill them so that's a bad thing,” says Cole. The fire has radically changed large swaths of the park. Driving along nature trails you can see areas completely blackened by the passing inferno. On the plus side no homes were damaged, nobody was hurt and campers are coming back this weekend.

“In the morning the smoke woke me up but other than that it's not bad it's just a little discomforting,” says camper Robert Price.