Wildfires that broke out in one North Carolina county have exploded in size, prompting mandatory evacuations as emergency crews fought separate fires in an area still recovering from Hurricane Helene. Meanwhile, in South Carolina, the governor declared an emergency in response to a growing blaze in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
The North Carolina Department of Public Safety announced a mandatory evacuation on Saturday for parts of Polk County in western North Carolina, about 80 miles 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.
It is the second time in less than a month that Polk County residents have faced evacuations due to wildfires. It also comes nearly six months after Hurricane Helena devasted the area.
North Carolina Forest Service 
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 to 1.9 square miles. 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.
“It’s not just the high winds, the low humidity, the steep terrain, but they’re also dealing with storm debris that’s blocking UTV trails, regular roads, and them just getting in on foot because we have so many trees down,” Kellie Cannon, a spokesperson for Polk County, told CBS affiliate WSPA.
Cannon said the residents of Polk County are “extremely resilient” after enduring Helene and the last round of wildfires earlier this month.
North Carolina’s western region already had been hit hard by Hurricane Helene in September. The hurricane damaged or impacted 5,000 miles of state-maintained roads and damaged 7,000 private roads, bridges and culverts.
Emergency declared South Carolina
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.
The fire had grown to more than 1,300 acres as of Sunday night, the South Carolina Forestry Commission said, but noted, “that estimate includes several hundred acres that were part of a burnout conducted by wildland firefighters to eliminate the fuels between evacuated residential areas and the many active wildfire fronts.”
Local fire officials called for voluntary evacuations Saturday of some residents near Table Rock Mountain, the forestry commission said in a social media post.
Another fire, the Persimmon Ridge Fire, which the commission said started in the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area had burned more than 800 acres as of Sunday night.
South Carolina Forestry Commission 
In a video on Facebook, Pickens County Sheriff Tommy Blankenship said the fire was started by the “negligent act” of a group of teenage hikers
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.
“It’s very steep terrain. There is a lot of what we call downed timber, blown debris, that has fallen because of Hurricane Helene,” South Carolina Forestry Commission Information Officer, Brad Bramlett told WSPA. “That just makes the conditions that much more difficult.”
