Wildfires in North Carolina fueled by millions of downed trees after Hurricane Helene

Dry conditions, wind and trees downed by Hurricane Helene fueled wildfires in North Carolina and South Carolina, where evacuation orders were in effect Tuesday.

Dry weather and millions of trees knocked down by Hurricane Helene last year are creating a long and active fire season in the Carolinas, according to North Carolina State University forestry and environmental resources professor Robert Scheller. 

“Helene just dropped tons of fuel on the ground,” Scheller said. “Then these flash droughts allow that fuel to dry out very fast.”

The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for parts of the South Carolina Upstate, western North Carolina and northeast Georgia through Tuesday night, as conditions were expected to be favorable for the rapid spread of wildfire with lingering dry air and winds picking up to 20 mph and gusting to 35 mph.

Mandatory evacuations were in effect for 146 properties in rural Polk County on Tuesday, about 80 miles west of Charlotte. Three fires there have burned at least 9.6 square miles in that county and in neighboring Henderson County as of Tuesday, and the two larger fires are uncontained.

Two fires were burning in the mountains of South Carolina. The fires in Table Rock State Park and nearby Persimmon Ridge have burned a combined 2.3 square miles, the South Carolina Forestry Commission said. Officials said both fires were ignited by human activity and neither were contained as of Monday night.

No injuries were reported, and no structures were imminently threatened as of Monday night, but voluntary evacuations were issued for about 100 homes over the weekend. 


(Photo U.S. Army National Guard via AP)