Multiple wildfires were actively burning Thursday in North and South Carolina, where a blaze that erupted over the weekend forced evacuations and a state of emergency. The largest of them, in the Carolina Forest area near Myrtle Beach, has spread over 2,000 acres.
Efforts were underway to contain the active fires in the Carolinas. Here are maps illustrating the current situation.
Maps of Carolina fires
North Carolina Forest Service
Officials listed 81 wildfires in North Carolina as of Thursday morning, totaling more than 1,500 acres. This was down from more than 200 blazes at the beginning of the week, according to the North Carolina Forest Service. The number of wildfires accounts for both reported fires and confirmed ones, and the latter group includes active blazes along with others considered contained or controlled. A contained wildfire is one that still burns but is no longer spreading, while a controlled fire has been extinguished.
The forest service was continuously updating an interactive map to chart the locations and basic characteristics of each fire, marking active incidents in red and reported incidents in green. Contained and controlled fires were marked brown and gray, respectively.
A wildfire in southwestern North Carolina was the largest active fire in the state, having spread more than 600 acres in Polk County near the South Carolina border, according to the forest service. Fire officials have contained 91% of the blaze.
South Carolina Forestry Commission
Around 22 wildfires were documented in South Carolina early Thursday, down from more than 100 earlier in the week, according to a map from the South Carolina Forestry Commission. Like their northern neighbor, fire officials included reported, active, contained and controlled fires in the list. One wildfire, the blaze near Myrtle Beach, was still actively burning.
Where is the fire near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina?
A blaze has engulfed more than 2,000 acres in Horry County, South Carolina, stemming from a forest fire that first erupted Saturday when brush lit up in flames as a dry spell coincided with unusually warm temperatures. Residents of several neighborhoods in the Carolina Forest, about 10 miles west of the oceanside resort city Myrtle Beach, were ordered to evacuate after the fire broke out, and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster declared a state of emergency.
Firefighters have so far been able to contain 44% of the blaze, according to the South Carolina Forestry Commission.
“Yesterday, diligent work by firefighters and three-quarters of an inch of rain helped strengthen firebreaks and kept the fire size at 2,059 acres while increasing the containment percentage,” the commission said in a update Thursday. “Overnight, crews continued to monitor and strengthen firebreaks and control hot spots within the fire perimeter.”
The commission had said in a statement Wednesday that high winds and heavy rain could affect containment efforts.
“Due to the adverse weather conditions, aerial operations will take a tactical pause, and incident command will re-evaluate an engagement strategy when the weather improves,” the statement said. “On the ground, firefighters will continue constructing and strengthening direct control lines around the fire perimeter as conditions allow.”
Planes and a Black Hawk helicopters have been seen dumping water onto the fire this week and ground crews were seen using tractors to dig lines around the wildfire’s perimeter.
Horry County officials permitted evacuees to return to their homes on Sunday, but the county’s fire rescue service warned that any residents previously ordered to leave the area should remain cautious of potential weather changes to come, and urged them to “watch for possible rekindling of hot spots.”
How big are the Carolina wildfires?
The fires reported in North Carolina range in size from less than one acre to more than 600 acres, according to the North Carolina Forest Service. The largest one is the blaze in Polk County.
The fire near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is the largest in either state by far, covering more than 2,000 acres.
Emily Mae CzachorEmily Mae Czachor is a news editor at CBSNews.com. She typically covers breaking news, extreme weather and issues involving social and criminal justice. Emily Mae previously wrote for outlets like the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek.
