County and state officials are coordinating with volunteers in Carroll County to wrangle what they said is one of the five largest wildfires ever in Mississippi. As of Monday morning, the inferno had spread across 4,246 acres, or 6.6. square miles, the county’s fire coordinator Jake Hurst said.
There have so far been no injuries or damages to any structures, Hurst said. As a precaution, officials on Friday evacuated 10 homes along County Roads 218, 360 and 163.
Officials are still investigating the cause of the fire, which Hurst said began on Wednesday last week. Hurst said a lot of “fuel” in the area from the recent tornadoes and ice storm, like dead trees and limbs and also young pine trees, helped the fire gain momentum.
“It was thick, highly fueled terrain,” he described. “The dryness, the low humidity, the wind, anything you needed for a perfect storm, per se, we had from Friday until yesterday (Sunday).”
Based on information from the Mississippi Forestry Commission, the wildfire is the largest ever in Carroll County, and one of the top five largest in the state’s history, Hurst said. MFC did not respond to calls Monday to confirm.
“This honestly looked like something you would see in California on the news type of fire,” he said. “It was definitely something I hope I never have to deal with again. It was very challenging in the terrain and environment we were in. It was one for the history books for sure.”
Like many places across the country, Carroll County relies heavily on volunteer firefighters. Hurst, the only paid firefighter in the county, said 25 volunteers have worked on this response. The county is working together with the Mississippi Forestry Commission and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency to attack the fire. Groups including the Cajun Navy and Red Cross are helping to feed first responders.
To contain fires of this size, he explained MFC will bring in bulldozers or plows to create “fire lanes,” which put a boundary around the fire to prevent it from spreading. A helicopter is also being used to drop 100 to 150 gallons of water at a time on certain “hotspots,” he added.
“A firetruck and water will not contain them,” Hurst said.
As of Monday officials had the fire 70% contained. The fire as of Saturday was 40% contained and had spread to 3,000 acres, Gov. Tate Reeves said on social media at the time.
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