Hornet fire creates heavy smoke west of Carolina Forest

South Carolina Forestry Commission crews were on the offensive against the Hornet Fire overnight Monday, which is burning about 60 percent contained west of Carolina Forest.

Forestry crews set back fires along the western edge of the fire along a road to deprive the main fire of the fuel it would need to jump the barrier, Russell Hubright said.

SCFC Public Information Director Scott Hawkins said fire personnel remained on scene overnight Monday night to patrol lines and prevent spot-overs.

Hawkins said total acreage will increase and additional smoke will be visible due to the back fires and heavy smoke is expected on Hwy 90 and 22 due to the back burning operations.  

Drivers should exercise extreme caution and my expect possible road closures at the discretion of local officials.

SCFC Duty Officer, Doug Mills said the left flank had a weak scratch line, though, it held over night.  The fire has escaped on that side and SCFC decided to burn out that area.

Mills said it will increase the acreage of the fire by about 450 acres, leaving acreage at roughly 700.

The Monday afternoon attack followed a night of firefighting where any progress made by forestry crews was undone by the fire, which jumped fire breaks in several areas, Hubright said.

"I wish we could go higher than that," Hubright said of the 60 percent containment figure.

Firefighters are working with a bad combination of circumstances, terrain and vegetation is proving to be a challenge for both heavy equpipment and firefighting crews.

Fuel atop the soil is dry and burns readily.

The soil -- typical of that found throughout the Carolina Bays of the area -- is peat-like in that it is rich in organic material and burns but is wet enough to bog down plow crews and make it difficult to cut a fire break, Hubright said.

The challenge is to plow through the peat and to the "mineral soil" which doesn't burn, Hubright said.

The firefighting weather forecast is a mixed bag of high winds and high humidity.

"Humidity is high enough to not add to the problem and will only get higher over the coming days, so the main challenges they face is gusty winds this afternoon/late tonight along with dry/dead vegetation due to the drought," WBTW News13 meteorologist Chris Still said.

"Rain chances will be slim to none today, but by mid work week and beyond more moisture will bring a slightly better chance for rain to hopefully help with the rainfall deficit," WBTW News13 meteorologist Lindsay Milbourne said.

In addition to roads, Hubright said firefighters could use power-line rights-of-way in the area as good fire breaks because they are regularly bush-hogged and don't have the organic material buildup that other areas have.

On the up side, the fire is burning away from populated areas and that gives firefighters more options, Hubright said.

"If we have to we could drop back a ways and do a backfire," Hubright said.

With Fourth of July celebrations set for Monday night, Hubright said he had one request for celebrants who planned to set off fireworks.

"Be crazy safe. Take safety to the extreme," and don't let fireworks start any other fires that could grow to the size of the Hornet Fire, he said.

The fire, which has burned more than 350 acres, started behind the Woodbridge subdivision, off Carolina Forest Boulevard around 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Horry County Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Matthew Montgomery said.

It spread quickly, fueled by extremely dry grass and brush in the area between the undeveloped subdivision and Gardner Lacy Road. Smoke could be seen billowing into the sky from several miles away.

The massive smoke clouds from fire stirred memories of past fires, including the April 2009 Highway 31 Fire that destroyed several homes, triggered evacuations and forced the closure of several highways.

"It's like holy molely, not again," Bobby Marks, a resident of Avalon, a subdivision off Carolina Forest Boulevard, said.

Marks and his family watched as crews positioned on the backside of the neighborhood in the event the fire crossed into the subdivision Sunday evening.

"It's our second time. The last time there was a fire, it burned all the way up to our backyard. Firefighters fought it all night in our backyard. We got evacuated last time," he said.

"We've already packed up a few belongings, irreplaceable photos. Stuff like that," Marks said.

As the fire burned east, residents in neighborhoods off Gardner Lacy Road kept a nervous eye on the situation.

"It's a little intimidating at first to walk home or drive home and see that sort of thing," Clear Pond resident Chris Fairwell said.

"We were trying to find out where, any information we could find on it," Mike Phipps, who has lived in the area eight years, said.

Glenmoore residents Dorry Nicoletti and Kelly Spaulding said they saw flaming debris fall into their neighborhood.

"There was ash, white ash, and then the burning pine needles and burning chunks of bark that were like two inches long, just started falling. Kept falling in the pool, all over the yard," Spaulding said.

Hawkins said no homes are threatened at this time.  The most active part of the fire is at least a mile away from the nearest structure.

Fresh SCFC personnel will arrive Tuesday morning with additional equipment.

Stay with scnow.com and WBTW News13 for updates on the fire as they become available.