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Ash and smoke clogged the air outside Marietta Baptist Church in northern Greenville County Wednesday afternoon.

But inside the church, neighbors breathed easier after fleeing their homes threatened by the nearby wildfires.

The fires at the Table Rock State Park in Pickens County and Persimmon Ridge in northern Greenville County have been burning for the last five days. So far, the fires have destroyed 2,293 acres at Table Rock and 996 acres of Persimmon Ridge.

Greenville County Emergency Management Division issued mandatory evacuations for over 50 communities along the Pickens and Greenville county borders Tuesday night.

Wendy Clark described the past 24 hours as a whirlwind. She and her husband, Michael, left their Cleveland home in the Ceasar’s Head area near Persimmon Ridge Tuesday night and evacuated to Marietta Baptist.

“We got chaos and we’re just going round around in circles. You're just trying to make sense out of one thing to another,” Clark said Wednesday. "You hope that when they all fall, they all fall into a piece that you can fix back together.”

Clark said her family has owned the land their house sits on for 52 years, adding that her father built their current home. Before evacuating, she said they monitored the fire and noticed things becoming serious when the flames jumped the Table Rock Reservoir and towards them.

“We didn't bring much, because you need to have some place to start if you don't have a home to go back to. As we packed up, the fire trucks were going up and down our road," Clark said. "At that point, we knew it was getting critical, and something happened that wasn't supposed to."

Marrietta Baptist Church Pastor Brian Spearman said 20 people had sheltered there so far. People started arriving Tuesday night, and more could come as the days went on.

He said he knows some of the people affected by the fires and some are members of his church.

“A lot of our community people know each other, and so when the Red Cross called and asked us about the shelter, we didn’t even hesitate to open our doors,” Spearman said.

How did the Table Rock fire start?

According to the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office, the fire began Friday, March 21 by four teens.

Wind gusts dramatically increased fire activity Tuesday afternoon, resulting in greater visible fire intensity and much more smoke.

Additionally, timber downed in Tropical Storm Helene remains dry due to the lack of significant rain, contributing to the extreme fire conditions Wednesday.

The dry timber acts as fuel, allowing the fires to spread rapidly and making containment efforts more challenging.

The same wind blew smoke and ash from the mountains toward other parts of Greenville County. In the church parking lot, ash and smoke filled the air.

"This just seems like different. It just feels overwhelming to see the smoke this far down. It just feels eerie," Clark said.

When is rain expected?

Humidity levels on Wednesday afternoon were at 17 percent, according to the National Weather Service. The humidity for Tuesday was around 38 percent. There's no rain expected until Saturday night.

Spearman said as fire crews do their best in the mountains, people in the area will do their best to help one another.

“People in this community take care of each other. It's been beautiful to see, it is not about where you came from or who you are. It's the fact that you are here for the common good,” Spearman said.

Clark said she’s tracking the state of the fires and hopes that first responders can contain the blaze in time to save hers and other homes.

“It means everything to my family. It is land that my daddy worked hard for. He put his blood, sweat, and tears into it," she said. It's just, this is just chaos.”

Officials ordered mandatory evacuations in Greenville and Pickens Counties after two wildfires exploded in size on Tuesday.

Marietta First Baptist Church at 2936 Greer Highway was listed as the evacuation shelter for all residents impacted by the evacuation order, according to a release from the S.C. Forestry Commission. The evacuation order came after the Table Rock Fire in Pickens and Persimmon Ridge Fire in Greenville both expanded greatly Tuesday despite firefighters’ best efforts to contain them.

The dry and windy weather, coupled with downed trees from Hurricane Helene last year, have contributed to the rapid growth of Table Rock Fire, which started on March 21, and Persimmon Ridge Fire, which started on March 22. Wind gusts and a minimum of 20% relative humidity on Wednesday could stimulate further growth, the forestry commission said.

“SC State fire has ordered 20 engines and 10 brush trucks for structure protection due to the new fire growth/threat and evacuations,” the forestry commission states. “This will add to their existing presence of six engine companies, three battalion chiefs, and four brush trucks.”

Below is a list of all roads in Greenville and Pickens Counties with mandatory evacuations.

Greenville County

Pickens County

Even though progress was made in fortifying containment lines on the eastern edge of the fire, the Table Rock fire expanded considerably in the other direction on Tuesday. It currently encompasses an estimated 2,293 acres, nearly double the 1,156 acres it was burning on Monday.

“The Table Rock Fire, whose northern edge yesterday was just south of Table Rock Reservoir, essentially burned westward along the forested watershed and eventually back east, halfway around the lake’s northern perimeter,” the forestry commission states. “The fire is estimated to have burnt all the way through the southern slopes of Rocky Mountain and Buzzard Mountain, eventually reaching Brushy Knob at last report.”

The Persimmon Ridge Fire expanded its eastern, western, and southern perimeters on Tuesday, tripling in size to 996 acres. Two large air tankers were used to make multiple fire retardant drops on the fire on Tuesday.

“Drops continued throughout the afternoon along the other edges of the fire in an intensive effort to contain the fire in a “box” ringed with retardant,” the forestry commission states.

This story was originally published March 26, 2025 at 5:00 AM.