Wildfires continue to burn across western portions of the Carolinas over the weekend and into this morning.
According to the latest reports by state agencies, fires in South Carolina have burned more than 12,000 acres. This weekend’s spread of the fire was propelled by dry, windy fire conditions.
In North Carolina, conditions have been no better, where they are currently fighting four wildfires.
According to Dr. Beverly Hargus, “It just seems like what was left over from the hurricane is almost like kindling to the fire. And it just seems like that’s part of our biggest problem right now, is because all that stuff is dried out from the fire and it just seems like it’s, you know, it’s burning like crazy. So the winds are— we’re fighting the winds right now. We don’t know which way it’s going to go. Currently, our clinic is one and a half miles from the fire, and so we’re in what they call the first level... we’ve tried to make plans for, you know, getting our files and our equipment, anything we can do. We’ve tried to make plans for that. Everybody’s kind of— we’ve kind of organized who’s going to get what room to pack stuff up, but it’s just a wait game.”
Dr. Hargus says that evacuated animals have already filled her clinic, and her team is now tasked with where to take them next if the fire approaches any closer. While Animals R Us has not been able to take in large animals, Dr. Hargus says that the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center has.
“We’ve housed what we can. It started on Sunday night, people calling to say they had been evacuated from their homes. We came out here and started putting dogs and cats in places, we sent larger animals to the Western Carolina Agriculture Center. The biggest thing are the horses. They call us and we send them to the ag center, because the agriculture center has many, many stalls... They can house goats and sheep too.”
She says that with the fires so close, she has been overwhelmed with the decisions to be made and riddled with fear.
