TAYLORS, S.C. (BP) — Pastors and other church leaders are breathing a sigh of relief after rains have helped bring the largest mountain wildfire in South Carolina’s history under control.

The Table Rock Fire is 30% contained as of today (March 31), reported the South Carolina Forestry Commission, while the Persimmon Ridge Fire is 64% contained. Rainfall amounts approaching 1 inch over the previous 24 hours greatly aided the work of firefighters, allowing them to build breaks closer to the fire’s edge.

“It’s gotten a lot better,” Travis Kearns, associational mission strategist for Three Rivers Baptist Association, told Baptist Press. “There’s a lot of rain right now and more forecast for today.”

Nevertheless, an estimated 13,000 acres have burned. The Clear Pond Fire of April 1976 remains the state’s largest fire, decimating some 30,000 acres.

Greenville County, where Three Rivers Association is located, remains one of five counties still under a burn ban, the Forestry Commission announced today.

There have been no injuries or homes reported lost due to fires, despite their size. Much of the Table Rock Complex Fire — the combined name for both conflagrations — lies within Table Rock State Park on South Carolina’s northern border.

Horry County, on the coast, remains under a burn ban as workers mop up and strengthen firebreaks around the Myrtle Beach-area Covington Drive Fire, now 85% contained.

Kearns said mandatory evacuations last week affected one of the association’s pastors. Three Rivers’ offices are about 15 miles away from the fire line, where Kearns released a video on March 28 and asked for prayer for rain, firefighters’ protection and those in the fire’s path.

“The smoke was so heavy last Wednesday that we couldn’t see 200 yards from our office,” he told BP today.

Marietta First Baptist Church, southwest of the Persimmon Ridge Fire, is serving as a Red Cross station serving 22 evacuees, a dozen of them members of the church.

The South Carolina Baptist Courier reported that more than 100 people and at least 10 local pastors gathered last week to pray for rain.

“God’s in complete control and He’s going to get glory one way or another,” said First Baptist’s pastor, Brian Spearman, of the gathering and calls for rain to help contain the fires.

The area is still recovering from damage brought six months ago from Hurricane Helene. Downed trees in the area helped fuel the fires, reported updates on the state’s Forestry Commission’s Facebook page.

Heavy equipment continues to operate in the area, including fire trucks, tankers, earth-moving equipment and aircraft. An estimated 850,000 gallons of water have been dropped.  

“Our association’s chainsaw team just finished a job here,” Kerns said. “The downed trees basically became kindling, and that helped the fire grow exponentially.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Scott Barkley is chief national correspondent for Baptist Press.)