A year and a half ago, the South Carolina Forestry Commission's Mike Bozzo declared the Horry County wildfire officially under control. Now he'll return to Carolina Forest to teach residents how to protect themselves from wildfire.
In April 2009, the Highway 31 wildfire burned about 30 square miles and damaged or destroyed 170 homes, making it the most destructive wildfire in state history.
Over the last three years, the Forestry Commission has lost 46 percent of its budget to state budget cuts, which means it's more important than ever to get residents to take fire prevention into their own hands.
Bozzo will present the Firewise program to the Carolina Forest community Wednesday night.
Firewise teaches people to make smart decisions when it comes to things like landscaping and home construction and improvement projects.
Only three Horry County communities are active with Firewise, Briarcliffe Acres, Walkers Woods, and The Farm subdivision.
The Firewise meeting is at 6pm at the Carolina Forest HTC building.
