The South Carolina Forestry Commission announced Tuesday that the Table Rock Complex fires have been fully contained. The Table Rock and Persimmon Ridge fires burned more than 15,000 acres in Greenville and Pickens counties and part of North Carolina.
Officials shared beneficial rain for the region on Monday aided in the decision to declare the fires 100 percent contained.
The Table Rock fire began March 21 in Pickens County and grew to 13,845 acres crossing into North Carolina. The fire was allegedly caused after teenagers failed to properly put out their cigarettes while hiking on a trail in Table Rock State Park. Three adults and an adolescent were charged with negligently allowing fire to spread to lands or property of another.
The Persimmon Ridge fire began March 22 in the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area southeast of Caesar’s Head State Park and grew to 2,128 acres in Greenville County. The fire was determined to be “human-caused” by state forestry officials. However, the specific cause has not been disclosed.
Ongoing drought and elevated fire weather conditions caused the fires to spread quickly forcing nearby residents to evacuate and a statewide burn ban was put in place. Smoke from the wildfires also caused poor air quality and a rare code purple alert to be issued for nearby Transylvania County in North Carolina. All evacuations and the statewide burn ban has been lifted.
Officials said resources remaining on the fires will continue to focus on suppression repair and install water bars on containment lines to divert surface water runoff back into the woods. The fires will be considered controlled once it has been determined that firefighting resources are no longer needed at the site.
The Table Rock and Caesars Head State Parks reopened on Monday, April 7. As of Wednesday, only the Lakeside Trail is open in Table Rock. The other trails will open as they are evaluated and cleared for safety. All trails previously open before the Persimmon Ridge fire have reopened.
