Dry, windy conditions persist in Horry County, prolonging the life of the Carolina Forest-area wildfire which began on March 1.
Unfortunately, this will remain the case until Horry County gets a long, drenching rain. Heavy and prolonged precipitation will be the only way to effectively combat the bulk of fire which remains well below the earth's surface. Practically, no amount of heavy equipment and firefighter response will fully extinguish this fire.
Mornings—especially in the Carolina Forest area—will be smoke-filled, sometimes limiting visibility on nearby roadways until we see full extinguishment of this fire. Currently, this active fire incident has a containment percentage of 90, which spans a fire ground of 2,059 acres.
These figures have held steady for weeks.
Dedicated Horry County Fire Rescue crews, including the Wildfire Coordinator Capt. Rainbolt, have been on-site, monitoring and responding to reported flare-ups and columns of smoke—all of which have been safely located within the contained areas to this point.
Frequently, a flare-up will reach an unburned or green patch of ground-level fuel and produce a highly visible (from afar) amount of smoke until that fuel burns out. Again, though this situation persists and will continue to persist, all flare-ups have occurred in the contained acreage.
We understand this pattern we've been in for many weeks is not welcomed news to our residents and guests, especially those in the Carolina Forest area, and we all collectively join in looking forward to that full extinguishment.
Until that time comes, HCFR crews will join the @forestrycommish units in focusing on fire safety and necessary response.
The public is still encouraged to call @horrycounty911 to report significant amounts of smoke in the area, while also noting that some amount of smoke will remain common there and HCFR crews are nearby, monitoring and responding as needed.
At the time of this posting, the unincorporated areas of Horry County are under a strictly enforced burn ban, as high call volume and dedication to the still-active Carolina Forest-area wildfire have staff and resources stretched thin.
There is NO LAWFUL OPEN BURNING UNTIL THIS BAN HAS BEEN PULLED.
To check the immediate status of the burn ban in Horry County, check HCFR's Facebook cover photo, which explicitly states when there's a burn. Or, you can check here:
https://www.horrycountysc.gov/departments/fire-rescue/
This will be updated the instant the ban has been pulled.
Lawfully, it's on YOU to check if there's a ban in place before burning.
We appreciate your cooperation and understanding of the admittedly frustrating natural elements of this wildfire, which is now in its third calendar month.