S.C. Coastal Wildfire Destroys

AP WIRE TOP HEADLINES
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — A rapidly spreading coastal wildfire destroyed one home and forced dozens of people to flee their houses Wednesday as high winds fanned the flames and blew walls of smoke over some of the busiest tourists spots in South Carolina.
The blaze had charred 3,000 acres, which is almost five square miles, and was not under control. Officials said no one had been injured. Firefighters expected it to burn through the night, said state Forestry Commission spokesman Scott Hawkins.
Low humidity and high winds expected Thursday may send the flames even closer to neighborhoods, golf courses and businesses that have eaten away at hundreds of thousands of acres of dense woods and swamps in the past few decades, officials said.
By early evening, a gray-white smoke had engulfed restaurant row, a collection of spots that lure tourists between Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach. It looked like a winter fog, with car headlights and neon signs peeking through the haze.
Tourists watched the smoke move over the tree line at the Cane Patch driving range, where one of the holes on the par-3 course was on fire Wednesday night, said cashier John Paulhus.
"We can see the smoke clearly from here," he said. "A lot of them have come in and inquired about it. I think it's more curiosity than anything else."
A cause has not been determined for the fire that began around noon in woods about six miles east of Conway, said Horry County Fire Rescue spokesman Todd Cartner. It had moved into the woods by nightfall and was no longer threatening the neighborhood near where it started, he said.
The smoke was close to the ground, making it difficult for the nearly 100 firefighters to make any progress in the dark, Cartner said.
West winds gusting above 30 mph spread the fire east throughout the day until it jumped the six-lane Carolina Bays Parkway, closing one of the busiest roads in the region, which is just across the Intracoastal Waterway from the heart of the Grand Strand. The waterway is expected to act as a natural firebreak, Hawkins said.
The fire was burning one golf course at the well-known Grande Dunes resort, although the clubhouse and other structures were not immediately threatened, Cartner said.
Hugo Castanva, 29, said he was cleaning the yard outside the mobile home he has shared with his wife and three children for the past two years when he saw smoke. Minutes later, the home was destroyed.
"I tried to use a water hose because the fire was everywhere. The roof started to go down," Castanva told The Sun News of Myrtle Beach.
The fire had spread into several Carolina Bays, geographic structures full of organic material that fuel the blaze. Tropical downpours are often needed to extinguish the fires burning the peat, Hawkins said.
"When a bay starts burning, they burn for a long, long time," Hawkins said.
Jo Hillman, 52, joined her husband, Chuck, and 13 other people at a shelter set up at the Tilly Swamp Baptist Church about midway between Conway and North Myrtle Beach.
As a prayer meeting went on inside, the couple recalled the tense moments as the fire started spreading.
"First they said 'You've got 15 minutes.' Then they said 'Get out now,'" Jo Hillman said.
Chuck Hillman said he later learned his house was still intact, although he expected there might be smoke damage when they returned.
Paulhus, the driving range cashier, said some patrons gathered around his TV to see a report on the fire. But vacation season was still in full swing and tourists were bent on getting their games in shape. "As a matter of fact, a party of 12 just came in here," he said.