S.C. Wildfires Cover 10,000 Acres; No Injuries Reported
By: Skylar Laird/S.C. Daily Gazette
Wildfires in the Upstate have grown exponentially over the past week, forcing mandatory evacuations as weather conditions and debris from Hurricane Helene impede efforts to stop the flames spreading.
No structures have been damaged, and no injuries or deaths have been reported, officials said during a Friday media briefing, one week after the first of the two fires started.
Together, the fires in Greenville and Pickens counties had burned more than 10,600 total acres as of Friday morning, officials said. Both fires, which officials said were manmade, remained 0% contained. A statewide burn ban remains in effect.
Four teenage hikers have been questioned by police about the Table Rock fire, and “charges are pending,” according to the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office.
The fires prompted mandatory evacuations for people nearest the flames. About 1,400 homes were evacuated as of Thursday morning, according to Greenville County Emergency Management. A shelter set up at Marietta First Baptist Church had about 20 people staying there Friday morning, said Kim Stenson, director of the state Emergency Management Division.
The fire is the largest mountain wildfire in state history, surpassing a 2016 fire in the same area that burned 10,000 acres.
“We’ve never had a fire quite like this,” Gov. Henry McMaster said.
Downed trees and other debris knocked loose when Hurricane Helene hit the state as a tropical storm in September are complicating matters, said Scott Phillips, head of the state Forestry Commission. Firefighters are struggling to get equipment onto paths blocked by the storm. Some trees fell across established fire breaks, meaning crews have to saw through logs to keep the fire from spreading even further.
Dried-out timber also created more fuel for the fire. While that hasn’t been the primary concern yet, it could become a much bigger issue of the flames reach areas where timber cleared from roads still sits in stacks, Phillips said.
Table Rock in northern Pickens County is obscured by smoke from a wildfire on Friday, March 28, 2025. (Photo by Mark Susko/Special to the SC Daily Gazette)
The debris “is going to change the way we have to attack fires in the mountains of South Carolina and in the Hurricane Helene-impacted areas,” Phillips said.
High winds combined with recent dry conditions have made the fires particularly difficult to contain. Crews have been working to create perimeters cleared of debris that the fire can’t cross, but the wind has carried embers from the Table Rock over barriers as wide as 40 feet, Phillips said.
“With these fires and the conditions we’re facing in the state right now, the dryness of the fuel, the extreme low humidities, the high winds that we’re having, containment is very, very difficult to achieve,” Phillips said.
Embers ignited parts of Table Rock State Park earlier this week, Phillips said. Table Rock, Caesars Head and Jones Gap state parks remained closed Friday, according to the state parks department.
State Law Enforcement Division and National Guard teams had dropped more than 700,000 gallons of water on the fire by Friday, agency directors said. Air tankers dropped thousands of gallons of fire retardant along the northern edge of the fires Thursday, according to the Forestry Commission. Among them was a very large air tanker, which the commission used for the first time in the state.
SLED has also been helping police monitor evacuated neighborhoods to prevent looting and keep roads clear of spectators who have been congregating, said SLED Chief Mark Keel.
Much of the firefighters’ focus has been on protecting nearby structures, officials said. One way of doing that is through burnout operations, in which crews intentionally light fires they can closely monitor to reduce the fuel leading up to buildings, slowing the uncontrolled wildfire.
The fires are visible from miles around, said House Majority Leader Davey Hiott, who lives about 7 miles from the blaze in Pickens. His home isn’t within the current evacuation zone, but he can see the glow of the fire on the side of the mountain from his front porch, he said.
“There’s smoke everywhere,” Hiott said.
The high winds died down slightly Friday, helping matters somewhat, officials said. The National Weather Service is predicting rain Sunday and Monday, which could help firefighters control the blaze.
“Pray for the men and women out here, and pray for rain,” Hiott said.
A fire near Myrtle Beach that ignited last month continues to burn. At about 2,000 acres, that fire is about 85% contained and has damaged no structures or killed any people, Phillips said.
This month, the Forestry Commission has responded to more than 370 fires that burned more than 18,000 acres total, Phillips said. That’s “orders of magnitude” more than the commission usually sees in a month, and more than it has seen in some years, he said.
April is typically the busiest month for forest fires, Phillips said.
“This is going to be a long season for us as we move forward,” he said.
For more information
Call (864) 467-3428 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. for more information on evacuations and shelters.
