The South Carolina Forestry Commission has ceased incident command control operations on the Covington Drive Fire in the Carolina Forest area, which began on March 1, 2025, though they have assisting crews on scene. Most recent figures have this fire at 80% contained over 2,059 acres involved.
Horry County Fire Rescue crews continue to monitor the fire ground, responding to flare-up fires and hot spots, doing drone reconnaissance as needed
A burn ban is still in effect in Horry County, and at the time of this posting, across the state of South Carolina, due to dry, windy conditions. When wind picks up, it has flared up this wildfire, prompting strategic operations, but all structures remain protected.
Based out of nearby Station 39 (Carolina Forest), brush truck and Wildfire Team members have gone in and moved sprinkler systems around to saturate different areas within the containment breaks. All recent flare-ups to this point have been within the black.
To move toward 100% containment and ultimately full extinguishment, crews are going to need some natural help in the form of heavy precipitation, especially because many of the hot spots are located underground. Until the point of full extinguishment, HCFR and SCFC crews will continue the aforementioned strategies, adjusting and moving resources as needed.
People in the area will continue to see an increased presence of firefighters for this reason.
It's likely flare-ups will continue, often producing smoke in the area.
If you see lots of smoke, like a column within the fire ground area—even though HCFR is closely monitoring—we ask you to call this into Horry County 911, just in case.
Our goal is safety and progress, and we continue to appreciate the immense amount of support from the Horry County community. It has not gone unnoticed.