Lighter winds help crews fighting wildfires in South and North Carolina

Lighter winds Monday helped crews in South Carolina and North Carolina battle wildfires that caused evacuations and threatened hundreds of homes over the weekend.

Hundreds of firefighters from across the state managed to keep the massive blaze in Horry County near Myrtle Beach from destroying any homes despite social media videos of orange skies at night and flames engulfing pine trees just yards away.

It was the biggest fire in the area since a 2009 wildfire nearby did $42 million in damage and burned down about 75 homes.

The danger wasn’t over Monday. Officials in all of South Carolina banned almost all outdoor fires, including burning yard debris and campfires. They told residents to call 911 if they see a neighbor setting a fire.

“You can and will go to jail for starting a fire outdoors in South Carolina. Period,” Gov. Henry McMaster wrote on social media.

Burn bans were also in place in western North Carolina. Some residents in Polk County remained evacuated from their homes as fire crews Monday morning set their own blazes to burn possible wildfire fuel to make it easier to contain a 480-acre (190-hectare) fire that was about 30% contained.

The North Carolina Forest Service reported more than 200 wildfires across the state Monday, although almost all of them were small and not threatening any structures.

A drier-than-normal winter across the Carolinas combined over the weekend with high winds as a cold front without the usual rain that accompanies the weather systems in the South moved through the area to increase the fire danger.

The area near Myrtle Beach is one of the most dangerous for wildfires in South Carolina as hundreds of years of decomposing vegetation creates peat, which when it dries out can burn for a long time.

Pine trees and other waxy vegetation provide fuel for fires to rapidly spread in dry, windy conditions.

Horry County’s population has doubled to 400,000 people over the past 25 years. Many of those newcomers have moved into neighborhoods being rapidly built right next to the oval Carolina Bays where the peat and flammable vegetation all grows together. Fires have been part of the natural landscape of the bays for centuries.

Officials have not said what caused any of the fires.