Crews make progress on Table Rock and Persimmon Ridge fires, Forestry Commission says

The Table Rock and Persimmon Ridge fires are still raging in northwest South Carolina, but the weather forecast and the maintenance of fire growth have officials optimistic.

According to a Saturday morning update from the South Carolina Forestry Commission, the Table Rock fire is currently burning between 10,000 and 11,000 acres and the nearby Persimmon Ridge fire is burning more than 2,000 acres.

Derrick Moore, operations section chief with the Southern area Blue Team, a federal team that helps manage complex wildfires, said the fire had not seen tremendous new growth and that crews are looking to make a dent in the fires Saturday.

Moore said the Table Rock Fire grew modestly Friday, and conditions are lining up for crews to contain parts of the fire on all fronts. He warned residents on the southwestern and western front that additional smoke is not a cause for concern.

There has not been any structural loss in the area, but crews are maintaining a presence on the firelines around nearby communities as of Saturday morning.

Moore said in the update that he doesn't foresee any significant growth in the Persimmon Ridge fire and said crews made "really good progress" on containing the fire. Crews will maintain a strong presence on the north and northeast edges of the fire to hold it in place.

"Fire did move a little further to the northeast yesterday, and while that's what fire does, so crews are going to continue to kind of see if we can work out a plan to kind of get arms wrapped around that. We're going to punch up in here today," he said in a video posted to the South Carolina Forestry Commission social media.

The Forestry Commission said they are using burnouts to help contain the fires. Burnouts are similar to controlled fires, where crews will burn all the fuel in an area to kill the fire spread after a slight flare up.

"We're fighting fire with fire, and we're doing that to create a defensible space and strengthen our containment lines so that by the time a wildfire gets to where we burned, there's nothing left for it to burn," Madeline Stewart, public information coordinator for the South Carolina Forestry Commission said.

The weather forecast for Sunday through Monday night offers good news for residents and fire crews. Sunday and Monday have good chances for rain after a cloudy Saturday with a chances for rain late in the day. Stewart said rain will give crews a chance to fortify containment lines.

"We're hoping that conditions, especially rain coming in Sunday, Monday, we're looking at maybe a few drops today, is essentially going to park the fire where it's at," she said.