Gusty winds feed blazes | Area firefighters have hands full over weekend

Although about 100 acres burned in Ocean Isle Beach, N.C., this weekend and 100 homes had to be evacuated, it could have been a lot worse.

No one was injured and no structures were damaged, thanks to aircraft that dropped fire repellent, said Assistant District Forester John Cook with the N.C. Department of Forestry.

"We were out of bulldozers at that point," he said, because they were all being used on brush fires that broke out around his district in southeastern North Carolina. "The aircraft were critical in fighting that fire."

The Ocean Isle Beach fire broke out about 2 p.m. Saturday, and the cause is not yet known. But as they did around the rest of the Grand Strand on Saturday, the flames, fanned by gusty winds, took off. In Brunswick County alone, more than 200 acres burned this weekend, Cook said.

Crews fought more than 120 fires across South Carolina on Saturday, and officials were worried Sunday would call for a repeat performance, but that wasn't the case.

"Everything that was burning yesterday is contained or extinguished," said Scott Garner, Brunswick County fire marshal.

He said there were some small blazes Sunday, one that burned two sheds near Leland, but no injuries and nothing like the burns that kept crews hopping all day Saturday.

The S.C. Forestry Commission battled more than 70 brush fires Saturday in the Pee Dee region, which includes Horry and Georgetown counties. That number doesn't include the fires that were doused by local crews, so there's no telling exactly how many blazes cropped up this weekend.

Scott Hawkins, spokesman for the S.C. Forestry Commission, said his department put out 47 fires statewide Sunday, with 22 still active as of 4:30 p.m.

The Pee Dee region had 20 fires as of 4:30 p.m. Sunday, with eight of them still active. "As always, we are being ably assisted by local fire departments, especially Horry County Fire & Rescue," Hawkins said.

After Saturday's firestorm, Sunday was expected to be a bad day, too, with gusty winds, and the day was still dry, prompting fire officials to remind people not to burn.

"Please postpone any outdoor burning," Hawkins said. "There's not a burn ban in effect, but we are strongly urging people not to burn."

Today's fire forecast is likely to be just as severe, Hawkins said, because of sustained winds, low relative humidity and the dry, dead ground fuels from the winter that people are trying to clean up. "You get a lot of human activity that leads to these fires," he said.

But not every blaze that happens is because of outdoor cleanups.

Horry County crews put out an early morning fire at an apartment Sunday in the 3700 block of Cape Landing Circle. Fire department spokeswoman Leslie Yancey said the call came in about 4:40 a.m. Sunday for a balcony fire, but the blaze spread to the interior of the apartment. Twelve firefighting units responded. No one was injured, and crews rescued a cat from the blaze.

Yancey said she had no further information about the extent of the damage or the fire's cause at Cape Landing, nor did she have information about the extent of Saturday's fires.

In North Myrtle Beach, firefighters saved an unoccupied house in the Barefoot Landing area from a fire about 1:30 p.m. Saturday - one of many likely started by people trying to get rid of dead leaves and other yard debris.

Under North Myrtle Beach regulations, outdoor burning within city limits is against the law.

City spokesman Pat Dowling said fire investigators are pursuing whoever started the fire, which ended up doing about $1,000 worth of damage to the house's siding. It took about 20 minutes to put out the fire, though the crews remained there for about an hour and a half.

"If they find out who started the fire, they will press charges," Dowling said.

It's not just North Myrtle Beach, either.

"More than 40 percent of these fires are started because people are trying to clean up debris and the fires get out of control," Hawkins said. "Our law enforcement officers are aggressively writing tickets."