Wildfires Prompt Evacuations and an Emergency Declaration in the Carolinas

Wildfires forced a mandatory evacuation in one North Carolina county as emergency crews fought separate fires in an area of the state still recovering from Hurricane Helene, while South Carolina’s governor declared an emergency in response to a growing wildfire.

The North Carolina Department of Public Safety announced a mandatory evacuation starting at 8:20 p.m. Saturday for parts of Polk County in western North Carolina about 80 miles (129 kilometers) west of Charlotte.

“Visibility in area will be reduced and roads/evacuation routes can become blocked; if you do not leave now, you could be trapped, injured, or killed,” the agency said in a social media post.

The public safety department said a shelter had been established in Columbus, North Carolina.

The North Carolina Forest Service’s online wildfire public viewer indicated three active fires in Polk County, with the two largest spanning between 1.7 square miles (4.4 square kilometers) to 1.9 square miles (4.9 square kilometers). Two other fires were active in nearby Burke and Madison counties, with a third wildfire burning in Stokes County on the northern border with Virginia.

In South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster declared a state of emergency Saturday as part of an effort to stop a blaze in Pickens County called the Table Rock Fire that started the previous day in an area within the Blue Ridge Mountains.

“As this wildfire continues to spread, the State of Emergency allows us to mobilize resources quickly and ensure our firefighters have the support they need to protect lives and property,” McMaster said in a statement that reinforced a statewide outdoor burning ban issued Friday by the South Carolina Forestry Commission.

Local fire officials called for voluntary evacuations Saturday of some residents near Table Rock Mountain, the forestry commission said in a social media post.

The Pickens County Sheriff’s Office posted an update late Saturday saying crews had ceased operations and would resume Sunday morning with ground personnel and machinery and assistance from helicopters and air tankers. The fire was about 110 acres (45 hectares) and the public was asked to avoid state Highway 11.

North Carolina’s western region already had been hit hard by Hurricane Helene in September. Among the extensive damage, flooding washed away more than a mile (1.6 kilometers) of eastbound lanes on Interstate 40 leading to eastern Tennessee and remained partially closed to traffic until March.

The hurricane damaged or impacted 5,000 miles (8,046 kilometers) of state-maintained roads and damaged 7,000 private roads, bridges and culverts in North Carolina.

The New Jersey Forest Fire Service, meanwhile, has been battling a wildfire that broke out in the Wharton State Forest on Saturday. The fire had consumed about 2.7 square miles (7 square kilometers) as of early Sunday morning. Firefighters had contained about half of the blaze according to an 8 a.m. update on the service’s Facebook page.

Emergency officials said they have evacuated two campgrounds in the park and 18 buildings were near the fire but the flames were moving away from them and no structures had been evacuated.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.