Evacuations ordered as wildfires erupt across Carolinas

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Multiple brush fires ignited across central North Carolina on Saturday, keeping fire crews busy. At least one fire-related death was reported.

First responders in Durham, Raleigh, Harnett County and Cumberland County rushed to control those flames.

Those fires come as the region continues to see an increased fire danger. A red flag warning was in effect for central North Carolina until 10 p.m.

In Durham

The 4400 block of Erwin Road between Mount Sinai Road and Cornwallis Road was forced to close after a large brush fire broke out there Saturday afternoon.

Residents said a transformer popped and caught the ground below on fire.

The Durham Fire Department said Saturday evening that units responded to a tree in the road around 3:30 p.m. in the 3100 block of West Cornwallis Road. The tree had struck a power line and started a small fire.

The fire department put out the fire and blew leaves and cut the tree to keep the fire from spreading and remove it from the roadway.

The road reopened around 6 p.m. No injuries were reported.

Hundreds of customers lost power in that area, according to the Duke Energy power outage map. Power has been mostly restored.

In Raleigh

Heading into Saturday morning, Raleigh crews knew it was going to be a busy day, what with low humidity and the high winds. They knew there was a strong possibility this could happen and in the end, it did.

"And any time you get the conditions, it's perfect for outside fires. It burns rapidly, and you had two wind-driven fires, which is hard to get ahead of," said Battalion Chief Dennis Marshall.

Marshall said his crews were sent to a quick-moving fire that hit a southeast Raleigh neighborhood.

"It burned the whole backyard and most of the front yard down a whole row of townhouses today," Marshall said.

In the Sandhills

Harnett County officials are warning residents of dangerous fire weather conditions after at least 10 brush fires and four structure fires broke out Saturday.

One major fire happened at a home south of Erwin on US Highway 401.

That's right on the Cumberland and Harnett counties line.

ABC11 also learned that one person died after a fire in Coats. No other details about that fire were immediately available.

Fire experts said one simple thing to prevent fires is to dispose cigarette butts properly. Another is to avoid anything that could cause a spark around equipment.

In western NC

In western North Carolina near the towns of Tryon and Saluda, a brush fire caused by a power line that fell along US Highway 176 Saturday afternoon spread quickly up a nearby mountain and threatened several structures, Saluda Fire and Rescue said on Saturday.

As of 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, the fire had grown to 400 acres, at 0% containment, Saluda officials said. Polk County officials said multiple fire departments were deployed to respond to the fire.

Some residents near the highway were ordered to evacuate Saturday afternoon by Tryon authorities.

Saluda Fire and Rescue said there will be a heavy fire department presence in the Bear Creek, Hanging Rock, Rhododendron Dr., Oceanview Dr., and Meadow Lark Dr. areas as crews work to protect homes

Tryon and Saluda are just north of the North Carolina-South Carolina border, around 25 miles southeast of Asheville, North Carolina.

Meanwhile, two wildfires in Buncombe County remain uncontained.

One has affected about 2 acres off Pisgah View Road and another near Grooms Road has affected 50 acres. Buncombe County is under a burn ban through Wednesday.

In South Carolina, officials from the SC Forestry Commission issued a statewide burning ban Saturday while reporting dozens of wildfires across the state -- many of which have since been contained. This includes a large fire near Myrtle Beach.

A red flag warning that was issued by the National Weather Service across many affected areas in the Carolinas expired at 10 p.m. Saturday, however the service issued a Fire Danger statement for Columbia and Greenville-Spartanburg areas until 8 p.m. Sunday, warning that "dry fuel and low relative humidity" could prompt dangerous fire behavior later in the weekend.

CNN's Karina Tsui contributed to this report.