SC crews make progress on huge Table Rock Fire. Here’s how much they’ve contained so far

Rain helped firefighting efforts on the Table Rock Fire, leaving some areas smoldering as containment reached 30% Sunday.

Mike Brod, operations section chief for the Southern Area Blue Complex Incident Management Team, said in a video posted on social media Monday the fire has not grown.

That is the first time since the fire started March 21 that officials had announced no growth.

The Table Rock fire covers 12,592 acres in South Carolina and 574 North Carolina. The perimeter of the fire is 50 miles around.

The Persimmon Ridge Fire was 2,078 acres with containment at 24%.

Brod said the rain gave the team the opportunity to fine tune the plan and prioritize three areas on the Table Rock fire and one on the Persimmon Ridge fire to harden the containment lines.

One of the areas is on the eastern side, where firefighters will be using bulldozers to break up trees downed during Tropical Storm Helene.

Firefighters are also working to keep the fire from spreading from Raven Cliff Falls to Matthews Creek, which has been a focus for restoration by Natureland Trust.

Air operations contributed to the jump in containment, including the use of a DC-10 for the first time in South Carolina to drop the fire retardant borate.

Severe thunderstorms with damaging wind gusts were forecast for Monday from western South Carolina to the central part of the state.

The city of Greenville said the thunderstorms were concerning.

“While rain is good, lightning and strong winds are not. Thunderstorms could make conditions too dangerous for air and ground crews, halting operations entirely,” the city said.

Russell Hubright, spokesman for the South Carolina Forestry Commission, said one concern with thunderstorms Monday is the number of down trees.

“Dead trees are all over the place,” he said.

Another concern is lightning for firefighters in the field.

The Table Rock fire is believed to have been caused by teenage hikers, who local law enforcement said likely will face criminal charges.

No structures have been lost. Three people were rescued from their homes and a stray dog was found on Table Rock.