RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN/AP) — Wildfires forced a mandatory evacuation in one North Carolina county as emergency crews fought separate fires in an area of the state still recovering from Hurricane Helene, while South Carolina’s governor declared an emergency in response to a growing wildfire.
The North Carolina Department of Public Safety announced a mandatory evacuation starting at 8:20 p.m. Saturday for parts of Polk County in western North Carolina about 80 miles west of Charlotte.
Two wildfires over 2,900 acres in Polk County are uncontained while another at 152 acres is 50 percent contained. The Black Cove fire has burned 1,239 acres as of Sunday. The Deep Woods fire burned 1,713 acres as of Sunday, officials said.
“Visibility in area will be reduced and roads/evacuation routes can become blocked; if you do not leave now, you could be trapped, injured, or killed,” the agency said in a social media post…