SC teens under investigation for Table Rock Fire that jumped border, spread into North Carolina

A massive wildfire burning for more than a week in South Carolina jumped the border Saturday and was spreading Sunday into North Carolina, where firefighters were already battling multiple blazes, officials said.

The Table Rock Fire, which started on March 21 in the Table Rock State Park in Pickens County, South Carolina, had burned 11,468 acres total as of Sunday morning in both South Carolina and North Carolina, charring more than 500 acres overnight, according to the South Carolina Forestry Commission.

The Table Rock Fire is now the highest-priority fire in the United States as fire crews responded from multiple states to help battle the blaze, which prompted the evacuations of more than 1,400 homes and businesses on Thursday.

As the fire spread across the border into North Carolina, the South Carolina Forestry Commission said firefighters had upped containment of the fire from 0% on Saturday to 9% by Sunday morning.

Derrick Moore, operations section chief with the South Carolina Forestry Commission's Southern Area Blue Team, said fire crews are hoping that rain forecast for the area later Sunday and into Monday will help firefighters extinguish the flames.

Pickens County Sheriff Tommy Blankenship said last week that investigators suspect the Table Rock Fire was started by four teenagers. He alleged that the negligent behavior of the teens caused the fire but declined to elaborate.

"They will be held accountable for their actions. I can promise you that," Blankenship said in a video posted to social media.

Another fire, the Rattlesnake Branch Fire, spread Saturday from South Carolina's Pickens County into western North Carolina's Transylvania County, according to an update Sunday from Transylvania County officials.

The Rattlesnake Branch Fire in North Carolina's Pisgah National Forest in Haywood County was burning close to the Transylvania County line but had not breached it, according to Transylvania County officials. The fire had burned nearly 1,900 acres and was 20% contained, according to the Sunday update.

A third fire threatening to spread into Transylvania County is the Persimmon Ridge fire, which is burning in South Carolina near the Table Rock Fire and had grown to more than 2,000 acres as of Sunday afternoon. That fire also was threatening to jump the border into North Carolina, Transylvania County officials said.

Meanwhile, in Polk County, North Carolina, three wildfires continue to burn but authorities said firefighters who have been battling the blazes for days had made significant progress.

The Black Cove Complex Fire - comprised of three wildland blazes: the Black Cove Fire, the Deep Woods Fire and the Fish Hook Fire - had reached a combined 7,670 acres as of Sunday, according to Polk County officials.

The Black Cove fire, which was started March 19 by a downed powerline, was 35% contained after burning 3,501 acres, officials said.

The Deep Woods fire, which also started on March 19, has burned 3,970 acres, authorities said Sunday. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The Fish Hook Fire, which started March 20 by a downed powerline, was 100% contained on Sunday after burning 199 acres, according to officials.

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Conditions that favor fire outbreaks

Wildfires are unusual in the Carolinas, but not unheard of. The Great Fire of 1898 burned some 4,700 square miles (12,175 square kilometers) in the two states, an area roughly the size of Connecticut, said David Easterling, the director of the Technical Support Unit at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Spring is typically when blazes happen, according to Kathie Dello, North Carolina's state climatologist.

This season, the Blue Ridge Mountains are dry, having received only about two-thirds of the normal amount of rainfall in the last six months since Hurricane Helene. March has been full of sunny, dry, windy days.

Meanwhile the risk to people and property has increased over the years thanks to a boom in popularity of the mountains as a place to live.

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"North Carolina has a lot of homes in the wildland urban interface, or more people living with a higher fire risk," Dello said.

Any trees downed by Helene that do not burn this year will still be around for future fire seasons.

"All that storm debris will be there for years to come, increasing the fire danger considerably," Easterling said.