Wildfires In The Carolinas Fueled By Drought, Wind And Fallen Trees From Hurricane Helene

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

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

Many people in the area are still getting over the hurricane that hit in September, according to North Carolina Forest Service spokesperson Bo Dossett.

“A lot of the damage and the blowdown, the downed trees from Hurricane Helene are contributing to the difficulties that our firefighters are facing trying to contain this fire and so that has just been kind of one ongoing crisis from September all through into the spring for a lot of these residents,” Dossett said. “This is one more thing that they’re having to deal with on top of what they experienced back in the fall.”

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 10 to 20 mph (16 to 32 kph) and gusting 25 to 35 mph (40 to 56 kph).

Mandatory evacuations were in effect for 146 properties in rural Polk County on Tuesday, about 80 miles (129 kilometers) west of Charlotte, North Carolina, according to county spokesperson Kellie Cannon. Three fires there have burned at least 9.6 square miles (25 square kilometers) in that county and in neighboring Henderson County as of Tuesday, and the two larger fires are uncontained, according to the forest service. Officials released maps Tuesday that show evacuation zones in the two counties.