First rain and then fire chase people from their homes in North and South Carolina
When Nicole Taylor and her family moved to their new home in the South Carolina mountains six months ago, the gorgeous view of Table Rock Mountain was the clincher.
She ended up with a porch-side seat to one of at least a half dozen wildfires in the Blue Ridge Mountains of the Carolinas, fed by dry conditions and millions of trees that were knocked down by Hurricane Helene in 2024 and began decaying into tinderbox fuel.
Taylor watched this past weekend as smoke started to rise from the ridges across Highway 11 in Pickens County. The smoke got worse Monday, and it was pouring off the mountain Tuesday when she got a text saying she was under a mandatory evacuation.
So far no one has been hurt in the fires, which have burned more than 20 square miles (52 square kilometers) in mostly rugged, remote forests and the popular state park that includes Table Rock Mountain. Only a few dozen structures have been damaged.
But the firefighting is slow work. Sources of water to extinguish the flames are scarce, so crews depend on building fire breaks to try to stop them in their tracks, using bulldozers, excavators and even shovels and saws to strip the land of fuel.
It then becomes a waiting game, making sure embers don't jump the break and hoping for the winds to die down or — the best relief of all — a long, soaking rain.
The long wait
Hurricane Helene slammed through Pickens County the Friday after Taylor moved into her dream home last September. The hurricane-force winds traveled hundreds of miles inland, smashing entire forests and destroying the electrical grid.
There was more than a week of what she called 'prairie life."
'We we're like, OK, if we can make it through that, we can make it through anything. Unfortunately fire is one thing we can't fight.'
This week Taylor decamped to wait the fire out in a hotel room in Greenville with her fiance, two children and their dogs. So far the fire has remained across the highway, but it is still too close for them to be able to go home.
'It's been an actual whirlwind,' Taylor said of the last several days.
Rain and then fire
Six months ago Eric Young packed up his cats and left his home in Transylvania County, North Carolina, after floods and winds from Helene knocked out power, water and cell service. On Wednesday the fires in nearby South Carolina forced them all out again.
A retired environmental educator who moved there from Long Island a few years ago, he lost his car and a heater when his driveway and crawl space were inundated in September.
Now he is at a friend's home in Charlotte, trying to keep a sense of humor about the absurdity of floodwaters followed so soon by flames.
'I thought it was nirvana here — never get anything but severe thunderstorms, the weather is temperate, very nice,' he said. 'I didn't know I'd be gut-punched twice in six months.'
Fighting the blaze
Forestry officials were worried after all those trees came down during Helene. It's not just the fuel they create, they also hinder firefighters' movement.
'It is nearly impossible to get through this stuff. We've got about five bulldozers, an excavator and saw crews to open this up and clean this,' Toby Cox, the firefighter in charge of the Table Rock fire, said about a fire break in a video briefing Thursday morning.
Extinguishing wildfires in the Carolinas takes time. A fire near Myrtle Beach that threatened dozens of homes and burned 2.5 square miles (6.5 square kilometers) in early March has been out of the news for nearly four weeks, but it is still just 80% contained and sends smoke billowing over neighborhoods when the wind shifts.
Conditions that favor fire outbreaks
Wildfires are unusual in the Carolinas, but not unheard of. The Great Fire of 1898 burned some 4,700 square miles (12,175 square kilometers) in the two states, an area roughly the size of Connecticut, said David Easterling, the director of the Technical Support Unit at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Spring is typically when blazes happen, according to Kathie Dello, North Carolina's state climatologist.
This season the Blue Ridge Mountains are dry, having received only about two-thirds of the normal amount of rainfall in the last six months since Hurricane Helene. March has been full of sunny, dry, windy days.
Meanwhile the risk to people and property has increased over the years thanks to a boom in popularity of the mountains as a place to live.
'North Carolina has a lot of homes in the wildland urban interface, or more people living with a higher fire risk,' Dello said.
Any trees downed by Helene that do not burn this year will still be around for future fire seasons.
'All that storm debris will be there for years to come, increasing the fire danger considerably,' Easterling said.
The latest fire updates
The two large fires in South Carolina continued to burn Thursday. The Table Rock fire has consumed 7.1 square miles (18.4 square kilometers), and the one on Persimmon Ridge in Greenville County has burned 2.4 square miles (6.2 square kilometers).
The fires are about 8 miles (13 kilometers) apart, and emergency officials have asked almost everyone living between them to leave as a precaution. The evacuation zone extended into nearby Transylvania County, North Carolina.
In North Carolina at least eight fires were burning in the mountains. The largest — the Black Cove Fire and the Deep Woods Fire in Polk County — were each more than 10% contained. The fires have scorched nearly 10 square miles (26 square kilometers) combined but have not grown for more than a day.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
01-05-2025
- The Independent
Summer 2025 has it all - droughts, heat and storms, oh my!
Millions of Americans trying to enjoy the summer holidays this year will have to contend with sweltering heat, worsening drought and stormy weather, forecasters say. Hotter weather means more deaths, affected infrastructure, the potential for larger and more persistent wildfires, and additional energy expenditure that may worsen Earth's environmental predicament, experts have noted. Many cities have already felt summer-like warmth this spring. Phoenix already saw a triple-digit day earlier this month. In the coming months, AccuWeather says more intense heat is expected in the northern Rockies, Northwest and Plains regions. In the Northwest, Boise, Idaho, Spokane, Washington, and Billings, Montana, are likely to see the most scorching heat. The heat will contribute to a wildfire season that could escalate, burning more than 7 million acres. A later start is expected for wildfire activity in the Northwest, but there is vegetation that will act as kindling, forecasters noted. The fire risk is earlier in the Southwest, and 'very high' to 'extreme' in the region. Texas, the Rockies and the interior Northwest. "While the season may start slowly, there is strong potential for rapid escalation as drought conditions and heat set in," AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Expert Paul Pastelok said. While the West will see a similar frequency of 90-degree days as last summer, major Eastern cities will feel fewer of those days. However, the Atlantic coast will not get a break from hurricanes this season. There's even a chance a subtropical or tropical storm will develop before the official June 1 start. AccuWeather is predicting three to six direct hits from hurricanes, with the Carolinas at a higher-than-average risk yet again following last year's devastating Hurricane Helene. More moisture in the form of thunderstorms will break the heat in the Northeast and across the Appalachians. To the South, the Southwest will feel some relief from its monsoon. "The monsoon may help ease drought conditions," Pastelok said. "Another positive to an above-average monsoon is to bring up river and lake levels. This can also bring relief from high heat and some energy savings." Right now, just under 37 percent of the country is in moderate to exceptional drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. This summer, drought coverage is projected to be widespread across the High Plains and West. There could be water shortages in the hardest hit areas, and impact crop production. 'Soil moisture and drought are big factors contributing to the demand for cooling this summer. We expect the middle of the country to dry out and bake in the summer heat. Higher air temperatures can enhance evaporation rates, which further reduces soil moisture. The hotter and drier it gets, the more families and businesses will depend on air conditioning,' Pastelok explained. The demand for electricity is also expected to climb above historical average levels across parts of 33 states this summer. That demand will only surge in hotter summers. The forecast is indicative of what is already known. Extreme weather events are becoming more extreme and frequent in an increasingly warming world and due to the impacts of manmade climate change. Heat waves are hotter, storms are stronger and droughts are longer and more devastating. As the atmosphere continues to warm, AccuWeather says more benchmarks will be broken following Earth's hottest year on record. 'Hundreds of record high temperatures were shattered across the country last summer. We'll likely experience more record high temperatures being challenged or broken again this summer, especially in the western and central U.S.,' AccuWeather Climate Expert and Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson said in a statement. 'The data is clear and cannot be ignored; overall temperatures will continue to rise as long as people around the globe continue burning fossil fuels that unleash carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that trap heat in our atmosphere.'
The Independent
18-04-2025
- The Independent
Wildfires grow to hundreds of acres after North Carolina lifts burn ban
Western North Carolina is fending off more raging wildfires spanning hundreds of acres this week. The blazes are burning less than a month after multiple fires tore across the state as well as South Carolina amid warm and dry flames in the Tar Heel State have fed on debris left over from Hurricane Helene last fall, resulting in mass evacuations and the destruction of multiple homes. After rainy weather offered some relief earlier this month, North Carolina lifted a statewide ban on open burning. Officials told residents to remain vigilant, and that lifting the ban did not apply to fires started within 100 feet of an occupied dwelling. 'We've received some well-timed, much-needed rain over the last couple days which has helped reduce fire danger, allowing us to lift burn ban restrictions across the state,' said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. 'However, we are still in the midst of spring wildfire season and our recent wildfire activity, especially in Western North Carolina, is a reminder to remain vigilant about burning safely and responsibly.' That was before the start of the Rattlesnake Branch fire and the most recent Bee Rock Creek fire. While the Rattlesnake Branch fire has been contained by firefighters, the Bee Rock Creek fire is holding strong in steep and forested terrain. Rain isn't expected in the area of the fire until next week. Some social media users are calling for the state's burn ban to be reinstated. 'Time to declare another burn ban, no rain for the next three weeks and lots more windy dry days,' Stu Art said in a post on the North Carolina Forest Service Facebook page. 'I was thinking the same thing,' replied Simone Lipscomb. The Bee Rock Creek fire started on Tuesday, nine miles northwest of the city of Marion. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. The blaze has forced evacuation orders around the Pisgah National Forest. An air quality alert was also issued for the evacuation area through midnight on Saturday due to the choking wildfire smoke. By Friday afternoon, the fire had grown to 856 acres with 10 percent containment. Another windy day was expected to make continuous firefighting efforts tricky. 'Firefighters will also be mopping up along Armstrong Creek Road, extinguishing hotspots to secure containment lines. Crews are prepping the Blue Ridge Parkway as a potential containment line by removing downed vegetation from Hurricane Helene,' the North Carolina Forest Service said. Elsewhere, firefighters were working to combat the 790-acre Haoe Lead fire, which is not yet contained. Located about an hour away, that fire was started by a lightning strike. Increased wildfire danger is expected across the country due to the impacts of human-caused climate change. Rainier weather will cause the growth of more vegetation that can dry out and become fuel during the drier and hotter months. Warmer temperatures will also lead to faster and stronger Atlantic hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico that take aim at the Southeast. But, there are immediate steps that people can take to protect themselves from catastrophic wildfires. 'As a resident, you can do things like cleaning up any leaves or pine needles in your yard, clearing dead trees and other vegetation around your home, and avoiding outdoor fires when environmental conditions are right for wildfires,' the National Academy of Medicine said this week.
Telegraph
10-04-2025
- Telegraph
After hurricane's direct hit on the Masters, this is how it will affect play
The devastating effects of Hurricane Helene remain glaringly and somewhat chillingly apparent in Georgia's third biggest city. Apart from here at Augusta National. For those of us lucky enough to get through the gates, it has been difficult to tell that, just six months ago, there was a direct hit on the United States' most famous course from the catastrophic tropical cyclone that was the deadliest to strike the mainland since Katrina in 2005. Yes, 1,000 trees were lost around the layout and even to the uneducated eye, once you know, you can see the gaps. But for the 89th Masters, not a blade of grass will look out of place and that is certainly not the case when one drives round the poorer areas of these environs. There is only rubble left where many of the 360 houses that were destroyed and even in the fortunate dwellings, fences remain unfixed and the roots of upended trees are stranded on the front lawns. When the thunderstorms arrived on Monday, as if to re-emphasise the dreaded torment of Mother Nature, they made an extraordinary racket as the rains bashed down on the tarpaulin that covers damaged homes. They still cannot believe it happened. 'Nobody alive remembers a hurricane ever hitting us before,' Tony Craven, a long-time resident tells Telegraph Sport. 'And it wasn't coming for us this time, either. But it went over Florida and then it decided to put us right in its path. It was scary, man.' The city authorities report that almost four million cubic yards of debris has been cleared and, with finances tight, it has been slow progress back towards any sort of normality. To their credit, the Green Jackets donated $5 million to the relief efforts and the locals are grateful. 'Fred Ridley [the Augusta chairman] said all the right things at the right time,' Craven says. 'The priority, he said, was the recovery and the rebuild and noted that there were 30-plus deaths. He made it clear that the golf course was not important at that time, although clearly they had the resources to ensure the aftermath was minimal.' Augusta National has a reputation for recovery skills of enough pace and quality to make Wolverine blush. 'Yep, they can create magic out there,' Craven says. For example, two years ago, several trees fell during the second round and if it was a blessed miracle that nobody was hurt, what seemed just as incredible was that by that Saturday morning there was barely a twig of evidence. Phil Mickelson once saw the ecological superpower first hand. 'I was playing a practice round a few years back, two weeks before the Masters,' he said. 'I'm lining up my tee shot on the 11th, and this tree tumbles into the middle of the fairway. Bang! Crashes down. This massive Georgia pine comes down, rips up the fairway and so forth. By the time I had walked from the tee-box, I could hear on the walkie-talkie, 'get off of the second, get to 11; get off of the fourth, get to 11'. Must have been 100 workers racing to this tree. Within minutes, seconds even, they had fired up the chainsaws, started cutting this thing down. 'By the time I walk off of the green, all the limbs of the tree have been cut off and put on a truck. By the time I got to 15, I looked down and they were cutting up the trunk, and the entire tree was being taken away on a truck. Goodness knows where that had come from. 'By the time I got to the 18th tee and I looked over and they're re-sodding the fairway. All this in maybe 90 minutes. I went there the next day and you could not even tell this had happened. It was one of the most impressive things I have ever seen.' If they accomplished that in less than 24 hours, then half a year must have been an agronomic eternity. They will not give exact details, but they acknowledge there was a massive replant – but not even the billionaire Augusta members can promote growth that quickly. So, for perhaps this year only, you can spot the joins. However, it perhaps says plenty that Helene's impact is most noticeable from the perspective of Augusta Country Club, the Donald Ross course adjacent to the National. 'I played there recently and looked over at Augusta National and thought, 'Oh wow',' said former Masters champion Larry Mize, who grew up in the city. 'I couldn't believe how visible it was. Now, looking the other direction, it's also wide open.' Xander Schauffele was amazed by the transformation. 'It almost felt like I was playing the back nine for the first time,' the two-time major winner said. 'When you're walking down 10, you can see half the course. There were trees you'd aim at off a few tees that aren't there anymore. I wouldn't say it will make the test any different, though.' Rory McIlroy concurs, but does make the point that the challenge has been altered, if only from an optical sense. For example, he infamously hooked his drive off the 10th and his ball ricocheted off a tree behind a cabin on his way to triple-bogey seven and that meltdown 80. 'There are a couple tee-shots that are maybe a little less visually intimidating,' McIlroy said. 'Thinking a tee-shot like the 10th, with that tree loss on the left side. Your target there is that sort of TV or that camera tower down there at the bottom of the hill. You used to not be able to see that, and now you can see that pretty clearly. Visually, it looks like you don't have to turn the ball as much as you used to. There's a little bit more room on the right side of three if you want to hit driver up there. There's a couple overhanging trees that aren't there anymore.' The winds might also swirl more on the par-three 16th, where an enormous pine tumbled and gouged up the green. Not that one would ever know. Yet it is doubtful that there will be any substantial deviations. Indeed, Fred Couples, the 1992 champion, believes there might even be an improvement and a return to yesteryear. 'I just think it looks better,' Couples said. 'The other day we played No 1 and we were standing on the green and you just look right down and you see a lot more room on the ninth tee. That's kind of cool. You can watch people hit and that'll be great for the patrons. It's opened up a bit and maybe gone back to more of how it was when Bobby Jones designed it. I'm all for the history. 'Look, I know this town was devastated and, of course, that's all that truly matters. But the course is unbelievable. And, hey, there's still a lot of trees. My God, there's a lot.'
