Smoke from the Hornet wildfire on Friday July 22.
/ Whitney Gramling
Sunday morning, Forestry officials say the Hornet wildfire is contained with 1,374 acres burned. It is still burning, but crews are working in 12 to 14 hour shifts watering down hot spots and bulldozing fire lines.
The wildfire near Carolina Forest burned through containment lines Friday and continued to spread Saturday. Firefighters lit a burnout to fight it Friday night, causing a large orange glow in the sky overnight. Plus, a Burning Ban is in effect for three counties in our area and a Red Flag alert is in place for the remainder of the state.
Scott Hawkins with the South Carolina Forestry Commission says the Hornet wildfire burning near Carolina Forest in Horry County has escaped along the right flank.
As of 1:30 pm Sunday, there are no homes threatened.
Forestry has called in the Army National Guard to assist. Two Blackhawk helicopters dropped water for five hours Saturday, and are expected to drop water for nine hours Sunday. The water is coming from a nearby retention pond by a Horry County Recycling Center near the fire.
"That is not something generally you call for until you absolutely need, because once they fire those engines up the meter is ticking it's a very, very expensive way to put out spot-overs," he said.
Hawkins says a back burning operation Friday night went well and ended about 2 a.m. Firefighters were fighting fire with fire. They set fires to burn up the fuel (trees and vegetation) the wildfire could use. We had calls into the NewsChannel 15 newsroom Friday night concerned about a large orange glow in the sky in that area. Hawkins says what people saw was the burnout, and it's normal to see that glow from a back burn.
Increased smoke was expected in the Avalon neighborhood Saturday evening, because of a wind shift, but no major fire was near the homes, Hawkins said.
"I wouldn't couch it in emergency terms because as of right now today we've got no structures threatened or anything like that." Hawkins said. "We just have a very persistent fire and it's spotting over into areas where really it is just better to drop water tactically and tactfully so our tractors can go in and do what they need to do."
The Blackhawk helicopters were called in Saturday after a SLED helicopter flew over the area to scope out any hot spots or spot-overs (when the fire jumps a fire break) from above with infrared technology.
The Hornet fire began July 3 and has burned at least 1,250 acres. Investigators ruled fireworks as the cause.
Officials say the Hornet fire continues to burn because of it's location, the Carolina Bays. That's an area with very flammable vegetation that can burn six feet under the ground.
The Forestry Commission says due to extreme heat and increased fire activity in certain areas of South Carolina, a State Forester's Burning Ban is in effect in Horry, Georgetown, and Marion Counties. Outdoor burning is illegal in these three counties.
The rest of the state is under a Red Flag Fire Alert. Outdoor burning should be avoided.
Click here for more information on this alert.
