Wildfires are Scary Stuff

This is the way it looks heading from North Carolina into South Carolina. North Myrtle beach is only an hour or so away from my house. The area that burned is one of the places we use to take the kids to see the fireworks on the Fourth of July.
Home owners from the development called Barefoot Landing coming home to find their home gone. This subdivision lost 70 houses alone. The fire jumped from street to street, burning some and leaving others untouched. I have always found that to be the epitome of randomness.
This is one of the resorts across from Barefoot Landing in North Myrtle Beach. Myrtle Beach boasts of some of the nicest and oldest golf courses on the East Coast. They also have the most putt putt golf places I personally have ever seen. I think the pink sky from the fire really tells you how hot that must have been. The pink is almost pretty if you didn't know that it was houses and businesses burning up.
Here is a couple sitting on their back porch across the strand from the fire. This must have been difficult. The whole coastal area is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and the Inter coastal Waterway. This waterway is made up of fresh water. It splits and meanders and is fed by creeks, streams and rivers. We call some of that strands. These waterways create vast swamps and wetlands. Areas that are boggy and full of peat. That is what is burning here. So far 20,000 acres or 33 square miles.
This is US 17 that runs along the coast in North Carolina and South Carolina. When I was coming home the other night from my road trip I kept smelling smoke. It was dark and late and I was in an area that the White Swamp and the Green Swamp are in, also a large fresh water lake - Waccamaw and another river. This area is noted for the fog. However, you could not see five feet in front of you for the smoke. I can't imagine what being really close is like.

So, please pray that this thing does not come any closer to North Carolina and that the wonderful firefighters are able to fully extinguish this monster. There are a lot of people out there who have lost everything and could certainly use our thoughts and prayers.