Miller, Presiding Judge.Danny Patton was injured when the truck in which he was riding struck a fallen power cable in the roadway. He sued Cumberland Corporation, alleging that it had acted negligently in conducting a controlled burn on property it owned adjacent to the damaged power pole and cable. The trial court granted summary judgment to Cumberland, finding that the Prescribed Burning Act, OCGA § 12-6-148, shielded Cumberland from liability because it had not acted with gross negligence. Patton now appeals. We affirm, concluding that Cumberland was protected by the Prescribed Burn Act and that Patton failed to establish that Cumberland’s employees were grossly negligent. Summary judgment is proper when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. OCGA § 91156 (c). A de novo standard of review applies to an appeal from a grant or denial of summary judgment, and we view the evidence, and all reasonable conclusions and inferences drawn from it, in the light most favorable to the nonmovant.
(Citation omitted.) Amtrust North America v. Smith, 315 Ga. App. 133 (726 SE2d 628) (2012).So viewed, the record shows that Cumberland owns a 3,000-acre quail hunting reserve called Danville Plantation (“Danville”). In order to improve quail habitats and prevent hazards, employees at Danville conduct controlled burns each spring. On the afternoon of April 3, 2015, three Cumberland employees with significant prior experience conducting controlled burns, Anthony Tucker, Jeff Clements, and Tanner Lemons,[1] executed a controlled burn of approximately 100 acres of Danville’s property. Tucker and Clements began preparations for the controlled burn by cutting 12 to 14 foot wide firebreaks to prevent the fire from spreading. They also prepared equipment and checked the wind conditions, and Tucker secured a burn permit from the Georgia Forestry Service.To start the controlled burn, Tucker, Clements, and Lemons set up a “back burn,” in which they first burned against the wind, creating an additional firebreak, before setting another fire so that the fires would meet in the middle and extinguish each other. Once the burn was underway, the employees patrolled the area until the fires were out. The burn lasted about an hour and a half. Before leaving the area around 4 p.m., the employees made sure the firebreaks were clear, checked for hot spots, and poured water on any areas that were still burning.Later that evening, Tucker and his nephew came across a burning area that was outside of the firebreak and near a power pole.[2] The pair spent about 15 minutes extinguishing the fire. Tucker’s nephew testified, “it looked like there was a pole looked like it was on fire,” but he could not say for certain and he did not know whether fire from the controlled burn had crossed the firebreak. However, the nephew also testified that the fire around the pole looked like it had come from the controlled burn area. Early the following morning, Patton and Johnny Railey were driving in the area around the controlled burn when they encountered a wire hanging across the roadway. Railey, who was driving Patton’s truck, swerved to avoid the wire, but the wire caught the rear of the truck, lifting it 18 inches or more off the ground. Railey indicated that one of the poles holding up the wire had “burned off and fell over,” while the other pole was still upright.Patton stated that the area was “like foggy, but it wasn’t . . . fog. It was smoke,” and that the wire was still hooked to the pole and draping across the roadway when he and Railey came upon it. He testified that he observed flames and the pole was still on fire. He also stated that he saw “straw and dead grass” in the firebreak closest to the scene of the accident, and that it appeared as though the fire had “burned across” the firebreak. Patton estimated that the firebreak was only about six feet wide, and he observed that the area between the firebreak and the road was burned “at least a half a mile” down the road. Railey, however, testified that he did not see any flames and that the pole was not on fire, but was merely smoldering. Neither Patton nor Railey could say what had caused the fire at the pole, but Patton “assumed” it was due to the same fire. Cumberland moved for summary judgment, arguing that it was protected by the Prescribed Burn Act, and thus was not liable in the absence of gross negligence. Following a hearing, the trial court granted summary judgment to Cumberland, finding that (1) Cumberland had conducted a prescribed burn in conformance with the Act, and was therefore entitled to the Act’s protections, and (2) the record provided no evidence upon which a jury could find that Cumberland’s employees were grossly negligent. This appeal followed.1. Patton argues that the trial court erred by determining that Cumberland was entitled to protections under the Prescribed Burn Act because Tucker failed to ensure that the fire was adequately confined before leaving the area. We disagree.OCGA § 12-6-148 provides:(a) Prescribed burning conducted under the requirements of this part shall:
