Firefighters in North and South Carolina were fighting on Monday with multiple forest fires driven by the wind in a rugged terrain that complicate containment efforts, authorities said.
Millions of trees demolished by Hurricane Helene Last year, combined with long periods of dry weather this spring, there are a long and active fire season in the Carolinas, said Professor Forestry and North Carolina’s environmental resources Robert Scheller.
“Helene has just dropped tons of fuel on the ground,” Scheller said. “Then these flash droughts allow this fuel to dry very fast.”
Both South Carolina and North Carolina have issued state prohibitions in outdoor burning.
Compulsory evacuations continue for about 165 properties in Polk county in western North Carolina, about 80 miles (129 kilometers) west of Charlotte, according to the spokeswoman for County Kellie Cannon.
Three fires burned at least 7.5 square miles (19.5 square kilometers) in the county and the two largest fires were completely countless, Cannon said in an update of social networks on Monday morning. The Black Cove Fire, one of the largest, was moving towards the neighboring county of Henderson, said Cannon.
Kim Callaway, who lives near one of the areas evacuated in Polk County, has prepared his home, Wlos-TV reported.
“We have already evacuated everything we thought it was important,” said Callaway. “And now we stay in the house and try to do what we can to prepare our house if firefighters need to present and keep the line.”
A fall electric line caused the Black Cove fire, but the causes of the other two fires in Polk County were under investigation, according to North Carolina’s forestry spokesman, Jeremy Waldrop.
Several other forest fires that burn throughout the state, including one that damaged 500 vehicles in a rescue patio in Burke County, authorities said.
Two fires in the mountains of South Carolina have led Governor Henry McMaster to declare an emergency state.
A fire was in Rock State Park table in Pickens County and the other was in Persimmon Ridge in Greenville County. The winds and the difficult mountain land allowed the flames to grow, said the South Carolina Forestry Commission.
Rock Table fire expanded to more than 2 square miles (5.3 square kilometers), including several hundred acres that firefighters burned intentionally to try to contain the flames, authorities said.
The Persimmon Ridge fire, which began on Saturday, extended to more than 1.25 square miles (3.2 square kilometers) despite many dozens of drops of water, the commission said.
Human activity ignited the rock fires of the table and the crest of the chaqui. Injuries had not been reported, and although they did not threatened with the structures imminently, the voluntary evacuations of approximately 100 homes remained in place.
Scheller, professor at North Carolina State University, predicted this occupied fire season If the region saw dry weather after Helene.
The scientists saw something similar in 2022 when a fire burned more than 51 square miles (133 square kilometers) of Timberland in Panhandle in Florida. The Bertha Swamp Road Fire almost directly followed the 2018 Hurricane Michael Eye pattern and the fallen pines that remained.
The pines and their zeros needles dry and become very flammable, said Scheller. Fallen logs can also block roads and roads used to fight fires, experts said.
The last ingredient to feed forest fires is dry weather. Despite the recent rains, Carolines are experiencing an extreme drought, According to federal monitors.
The common denominator for many fires on the east coast is human activity, whether people are rubble, enclose a fire that is not observed well or throws a cigarette, said Scheller.
And more people living next to the areas that may burn make fires a major threat, he said.
A forest fire that is burned in the Pinelands region of millions of New Jersey acres was 100% contained on Monday morning, New Jersey forest fire services said in a position in X. The fire was first seen on Saturday and burned around 3.5 square miles (5.8 kilometers).
That fire led the authorities to evacuate two camps in the Wharton state forest, authorities said. The cause was under investigation.
A front that moved from the east coast brought rain and more moisture to the area, helping firefighters on Monday.
But they did not fall much rain and the temperatures are expected to heat up and the air dryer as the week progresses, probably, which means another round of forest fires unless people remain prohibitions of burns and fire safety.
“It is absolutely essential that people respect the state prohibition of all open burning”, the spokesman for the North Carolina forest service, Philip Jackson. saying.