The wind is a friend. For now.

And while it was in firefighters favor on Wednesday, crews took advantage by setting back fires at the very moment Gov. Robert Bentley was having a press conference just south of the blaze.

Bentley told reporters he gave the go ahead for the burns even though the north wind would likely push right into his face as he addressed the Gulf State Park fire that begin on Saturday.

“We see a lot of smoke and a lot of burning going on,” Bentley said. “Right now as you see the smoke increasing over there, they’re starting a back burn.”

Bentley said crews were taking advantage of favorable wind direction before it shifted to come out of the south again later in the evening.

“There is a time frame,” he said. “We have to do this because of the direction of the wind. Now that we have winds out of the north and the northeast, that back burn will burn this way and keep it away from the houses on the other side.

“We’ll will see a larger amount of smoke in just a few minutes. I gave the OK to go ahead and start that back burn. We didn’t need to worry about the press conference. We knew it was gonna be smoky over here, but that’s OK. That’s not important. What we need to do is get the fire out because we want people down here on the Fourth of July.”

Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft echoed the governor’s sentiment.

“To have a north wind this time of year is phenomenal,” Craft said. "If you’re coming to the beach, you’re gonna have a good weekend."

Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon encouraged visitors to come on down, too

“That’s the prettiest smoke I’ve seen in a long time,” he said. “We really needed that burn. It was imperative we get it in today. Thank you Lord for the north wind. All the pieces are coming together. We can turn back around in 24 hours and there’ll be no smoke on the beach. Tourists and folks coming down for the Fourth won’t be affected.

“It just smells like a big barbecue.”

While smoke has been troublesome at times, the only road closed because of it is in the state park. All other roads are accessible and Kennon says they will remain so.

“Traffic has never been affected and won’t be affected,” he said. “I don’t see any issue whatsever to for anyone coming down to enjoy the Fourth.”

Gary Cole, the state of Alabama Forester for Southwest Alabama, says the fire, which has burned 1,000 acres in the 6,200-acre park, is almost completely under control.

“The fire is going just as we planned at this point, so we’re making big-time progress," Cole said. "Right now we would call it 95 percent controlled. We call it contained within our fire breaks at this time.”

A unique tool in the battle arrived today from Florida’s Division of Forestry. It’s a helicopter that shoots out incendiary ping pong balls that is much more efficient at starting larger fires. It proved especially helpful by arriving in time to take advantage of the wind direction.

“It saturates the ground and it will burn that out much quicker than if we just put fire around the edges of it and tried to let it burn together,” Cole said.

Earlier on Wednesday, a wave of optimism washed over city officials in Gulf Shores.

“They pretty much blacked out the whole area that needed to be burned to remove fuel from the fire,” Brown said. “They're mostly maintaining the perimeters now. The Deparment of Public Safety helicopeter is flying to observe that the fire is behaving itself.”

While an early evening rain helped crews battling the wildfire in Gulf State Park, it could also cause minor setbacks in the long run.

"Any rain actually helps," Orange Beach Battalion Chief Kevin Lanford said Wednesday morning. "The amount of rain we had was good. But it’s so dry that it will lead to challenges in the future. It absorbs pretty quickly. If we can get things under control before the sun gets up and dries everything up, that’d be good."

“Hopefully, we’re going to be over the hump by tomorrow," Orange Beach Chief Forney Howard told the City Council on Tuesday night.

The rain fall did give overnight crews an assist in the fight to keep the fire contained.

"Quiet night, continued to monitor the area’s perimeter and there has been changes in conditions," Lanford said. "The current perimeter of the fire has been maintained. We have some smoldering, some small spots within our blackened area. So it was really a good operational evening."

A back burn on Tuesday had concerned residents looking skyward. The plume was much like the one cast by the initial blaze from Saturday afternoon when there was talk of evacuations.

Official said the Tuesday fire was part of a planned back burn. More back burning was in the plan of attack for today.

"We had a briefing this morning and the state plans to continue their efforts to back burn and just keep monitoring and mopping up," Lanford. "Right now they feel real confident if conditions don’t change on us, we’re feeling good."

Howard welcomed the respite from the rain.

“With the rain, it helped us a lot,” Howard said. “It got a lot of our edges wet and that’s helped us out. I think they are trying to back burn again this afternoon. Looks like they are trying to get it done. Hopefully we can wrap this up soon.”

According to Gulf Shores Deputy Fire Chief Keith Martin, the rain shower this morning was a welcomed blessing; however, it has slowed the progress of the controlled burn on the western portion of the Gulf State Park near the campground. Officials report that this area of fire is controlled and contained. They hope to resume the controlled burn when favorable conditions return.

Back burning efforts ended in the Gulf Shores at 3 p.m. Tuesday, when a storm swept in from the north. Despite the weather, efforts were successful yesterday to control the wildire, Gulf Shores fire rescue officials said. A 120-acre plot of land will be lit with controlled fires Wednesday to finish out the area, officials said.

Late Monday evening a state of emergency was declared by Gov. Robert Bentley which will enable the state to receive more assistance from the state.

The fire produced a few flare-ups Monday night, but overall it was uneventful. Some rain Tuesday morning hampered the building of back burn fires, but fire officials weren't complaining.

The governor encouraged those with travel plans for the beach for the holiday weekend to come on down.

"Local officials are working around the clock to contain this fire, and I am hopeful they will be successful,” Bentley said in a news release. “The fires have not affected the beaches of Gulf Shores or Orange Beach.

"I want to encourage people who have plans to travel to the Gulf for the upcoming holiday to continue with their vacation plans.”

Project CARE, a non-profit organization based out of the First Baptist Church in Robertsdale, has been providing food for the workers since Sunday. Wednesday, the non-profit provided a fish fry for emergency personnel.