South Carolina Forestry Commission and Horry County firefighters worked on the ground Thursday, and one man worked from the sky.
James Price is a forestry pilot keeping an eye on the fires that keep popping up in Horry County, including the nearly 1000 acre Hornet Fire that's been burning since July 3rd.
While he's working alone in the sky, the lives of the 17 men on the ground are in his hands.
"We look out for them as best as we can," says Price. "We can see things a little better from up here and a lot of times all they see is a ball of fire, and what's around them. We try to direct them to get something around that fire to slow it down to get it where we can contain it."
The agency says fireworks started the fire that continues to flare up dangerously close to homes and neighborhoods. Price says at some spots the smoke is just 300 yards away.
"We're just checking the lines looking for future problems. May not happen today, but it may come around a couple of days from now."
Price circled above to keep those firefighters out of harm's way, while the crew focused on the break lines to contain the fire.
"My fellows close to the fire are the ones I really worry about," says Price. "When winds change, all of the sudden within a few minutes, they become ahead of the fire again."
The commission says the Carolina bays burning in the Hornet Fire are making it difficult to suppress the fire completely. Carolina bays are areas with very flammable vegetation that can burn six feet under the ground.
"Until mother nature comes and dumps a good deal of water on us, we still have potential for these fires getting out."
But Price is not only canvassing the Hornet Fire, he's the eye in the sky for all of Horry County. In less than two hours he flew to two other fires, checking a brush fire in Loris and another near highway 548 outside of Conway that's been burning for more than a month.
"We've got a lot of this in Horry County. It's hard to control hard to contain. Everything is just wide open woods. The fire has endless fuel."
With fire still smoldering and communities still in danger, the man who works alone to keep others safe will stay on top of it. Each of Price's trips last around four and a half hours. He says depending on the day, he could be in the sky for ten hours.
"It's good to have the same man around the same fire day in and day out as long as you can."
