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MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - A coastal wildfire spread Thursday toward one of the busiest tourist stretches in South Carolina, burning dozens of homes and forcing 2,500 to flee in the middle of the night.
Gov. Mark Sanford on Thursday declared a state of emergency for the area, saying the fire had consumed 15,000 acres, or about 23 square miles — nearly double earlier estimates. The declaration frees up more resources to battle the blaze.
Up to 70 homes have been destroyed, and worst hit is the Barefoot Resort area in North Myrtle Beach, officials said. All North Myrtle Beach schools were closed Thursday.
Garry Alderman, the county fire chief, described some as left with only "skeletal remains."
"I've never seen anything this bad," he said.
Even as hundreds of firefighters, two dozen bulldozers and water-dropping helicopters were deployed, Sanford said the fire was continuing to spread and more people may be affected.
Overnight, police banged on doors to awaken residents as strong winds pushed the blaze through a wooded swath toward the Barefoot Landing development, a sprawling complex of houses, condominiums and golf courses separated from the main route through Myrtle Beach by the Intracoastal Waterway.
"It was like something out of a movie," said Danielle Prater, 25, of Charlotte, N.C., who woke her aunt and uncle at 1:30 a.m. after seeing flames several feet high racing through a neighbor's back yard. "I ran and got them and we got out of there as fast as we could."
Officials hoped the waterway would act as a natural firebreak to protect more populated areas closer to the beach.
State fire officials said as many as 40 homes had been damaged or destroyed, while the local Sun News newspaper reported that approximately 70 homes had been burned. North Myrtle Beach spokeswoman Nicole Aiello said only that 40 homes were damaged and the extent of that would not be known until later in the day.
No cause determined
About 2,500 people in a four-mile stretch on the western side of the waterway were told to leave their homes overnight, Aiello said. No injuries have been reported.
Shelters were set up at North Myrtle Beach City Hall and the House of Blues, where about 50 people watched a television over the bar looking for news updates. Outside, a white haze settled and the acrid smell of smoke was pervasive.
"What we have on is what we got away with," said Sherlene Pinnix, 63.
The cause of the fire, which started a day earlier in a wooded area west of the beach, had not been determined. Flames jumped highways and sent walls of smoke over tourist attractions as 30 mph gusts pushed it toward the ocean. Winds were expected to be weaker Thursday.
Besides the wind, Horry County Fire Rescue spokesman Todd Cartner said crews were having trouble getting to the flames because of the dense vegetation and were using bulldozers and tractors to cut paths to it.
Adding to the problem were heavily vegetated patches called Carolina Bays that caught fire and fueled the blaze. The shallow, egg-shaped depressions pockmark the coast and range in size from a few to thousands of acres. The bays are densely filled with plant life and often have boggy bottoms where peat, if it catches fire, can burn for days or weeks.
Tropical downpours are often needed to extinguish such fires, said state Forestry Commission spokesman Scott Hawkins.
"Once you get a fire in a bay, it's very, very hard to put out," he said.
Gov. Mark Sanford on Thursday declared a state of emergency for the area, saying the fire had consumed 15,000 acres, or about 23 square miles — nearly double earlier estimates. The declaration frees up more resources to battle the blaze.
Up to 70 homes have been destroyed, and worst hit is the Barefoot Resort area in North Myrtle Beach, officials said. All North Myrtle Beach schools were closed Thursday.
Garry Alderman, the county fire chief, described some as left with only "skeletal remains."
"I've never seen anything this bad," he said.
Even as hundreds of firefighters, two dozen bulldozers and water-dropping helicopters were deployed, Sanford said the fire was continuing to spread and more people may be affected.
Overnight, police banged on doors to awaken residents as strong winds pushed the blaze through a wooded swath toward the Barefoot Landing development, a sprawling complex of houses, condominiums and golf courses separated from the main route through Myrtle Beach by the Intracoastal Waterway.
"It was like something out of a movie," said Danielle Prater, 25, of Charlotte, N.C., who woke her aunt and uncle at 1:30 a.m. after seeing flames several feet high racing through a neighbor's back yard. "I ran and got them and we got out of there as fast as we could."
Officials hoped the waterway would act as a natural firebreak to protect more populated areas closer to the beach.
State fire officials said as many as 40 homes had been damaged or destroyed, while the local Sun News newspaper reported that approximately 70 homes had been burned. North Myrtle Beach spokeswoman Nicole Aiello said only that 40 homes were damaged and the extent of that would not be known until later in the day.
No cause determined
About 2,500 people in a four-mile stretch on the western side of the waterway were told to leave their homes overnight, Aiello said. No injuries have been reported.
Shelters were set up at North Myrtle Beach City Hall and the House of Blues, where about 50 people watched a television over the bar looking for news updates. Outside, a white haze settled and the acrid smell of smoke was pervasive.
"What we have on is what we got away with," said Sherlene Pinnix, 63.
The cause of the fire, which started a day earlier in a wooded area west of the beach, had not been determined. Flames jumped highways and sent walls of smoke over tourist attractions as 30 mph gusts pushed it toward the ocean. Winds were expected to be weaker Thursday.
Besides the wind, Horry County Fire Rescue spokesman Todd Cartner said crews were having trouble getting to the flames because of the dense vegetation and were using bulldozers and tractors to cut paths to it.
Adding to the problem were heavily vegetated patches called Carolina Bays that caught fire and fueled the blaze. The shallow, egg-shaped depressions pockmark the coast and range in size from a few to thousands of acres. The bays are densely filled with plant life and often have boggy bottoms where peat, if it catches fire, can burn for days or weeks.
Tropical downpours are often needed to extinguish such fires, said state Forestry Commission spokesman Scott Hawkins.
"Once you get a fire in a bay, it's very, very hard to put out," he said.
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