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The Horry County wildfire continued to burn out of control Thursday night after it destroyed about 70 homes earlier in the day and sent 2,500 residents fleeing for safety.
Meanwhile, S.C. Forestry Commission officials say they have cited a man for allowing a brush fire to get out of control Wednesday, but they added they have not determined if the blaze later grew into the wildfire that spread into residential areas near North Myrtle Beach.
Some of the residents who were forced to leave their homes in the early-morning hours Thursday were permitted to return this evening. But other evacuations were ordered for the blaze, which continues to leave thick smoke and soot across a wide part of northern Horry County and southern Brunswick County in North Carolina.
Several hundred people were reported to be staying in emergency shelters.
Meteorologists warned that calm conditions overnight will cause smoke from the fire to stay close to the ground. That is expected to cause treacherous driving conditions in part of the North Myrtle Beach area.
Scott Hawkins, a spokesman for the S.C. Forestry Commission, said a man was cited today for failure to notify forestry officials about an outdoor fire and letting the blaze spread to another's property. Hawkins said the fire was near S.C. 90, where the Horry County blaze is thought to have started.
''Were they the cause of the fire? We don't know that yet,'' Hawkins said. ''There is further investigation needed. Yes that burn caused a fire, but it doesn't mean it caused the (S.C.) 31 fire we are here to discuss today.''
The man's name was not immediately available. Forestry Commission officials later said the fire was a routine debris burn that was started over the weekend and was put out the same day. The commission said it rekindled Wednesday.
In addition to the destroyed homes, another 100 were damaged. Most of the affected homes were in the Barefoot Resort and Pelican Bay communities, west of S.C. 31. The worst of the fire was in an area bordered by S.C. 90, S.C. 31, and S.C. 22.
A forestry official said it could be days before the fire is brought under control.
Authorities in Horry County said late this afternoon that about 7,000 acres are burning, but they have made progress against the blaze, bringing it about 75 percent under control.
"It's a big fire, and it might get worse before it gets better," the S.C. Forestry Commission's Hawkins said, adding that several more days of firefighting might be needed.
Officials took the unusual step at midday of closing 18 miles of the Intracoastal Waterway, from the Carolinas border south to near Myrtle Beach. Dense smoke and the danger of spreading fire forced the action. The waterway, a heavily used corridor for boat traffic, is closed between the Little River swing bridge and the large bridge on U.S. 501.
Classes have been canceled Friday for students in five North Myrtle Beach schools, and two resort hotels are offering free rooms to people who were forced from their homes by the blaze.
The fire's worst damage came overnight, when it roared into several neighborhoods and destroyed homes. But it remains a threat to residential areas this afternoon. Authorities said several neighborhoods along S.C. 90, Long Bay Road and S.C. 22 -- on the other side of the blaze from where houses were burned overnight -- were threatened this afternoon.
Shortly before 4 p.m., fire officials warned residents in the area near Long Bay and Watch Tower roads that they might need to leave their homes with just minutes' notice. Flames were spreading closer to that residential area, authorities said. A short time later, about 50 families nearby were ordered to leave their homes, but the flames did not reach the residential area.
Earlier today, shortly after 11 a.m., flames moved near the Grove Crest Circle area, not far from the Barefoot Resort community that was heavily damaged overnight. Firefighters dug large trenches and forced the blaze to remain on the northwest side of Water Tower Road. People in the area reported the fire was blazing furiously on the inland side of Water Tower Road and was moving back toward S.C. 90.
Shortly before 6 p.m., officials allowed residents of the Barefoot Resort area to return to their homes. Many of them found only rubble. Others discovered they had been spared.
S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford has declared a state of emergency in Horry County. Thick smoke has clouded the skies north of Myrtle Beach, and there are reports that ash has fallen as far north as the Wilmington area, about 30 miles to the north.
Several other wildfires have been reported in Horry and Georgetown counties in the past 24 hours, but none of them compare in size to the blaze raging a few miles inland from the coast at North Myrtle Beach.
Reporters from the Myrtle Beach Sun News reported this morning from the Barefoot Resort area that 10 homes were destroyed on Swift Street, seven more on Club Course, and six on Windy Pines.
Houses in the Barefoot Resort area typically sell for $200,000 to $300,000.
Barefoot Resort resident Connie Lupton told the Myrtle Beach Sun News that she and her husband, Bob, fled their home minutes before it caught fire at 2 a.m.
"The good Lord really did bless us," said Connie Lupton, who told the Sun News that she fled her home without shoes. "If we were asleep, we wouldn't have made it."
Her daughter, Judy Hall, was also in the house and said the family was afraid to go to sleep because the blaze was so near.
Residents told of hearing police drive down their streets in the middle of the night, giving warnings on loudspeakers for residents to flee. Some residents said they had only a few minutes to escape their homes before flames arrived.
At least three emergency shelters are open:
-- House of Blues, U.S. 17 Bypass, North Myrtle Beach.
-- Barefoot Church, Main Street, North Myrtle Beach.
-- North Myrtle Beach Aquatic and Fitness Center, 2nd Avenue South, North Myrtle Beach.
GEORGETOWN COUNTY
Damage was less here, in the area south of Myrtle Beach.
Authorities report three fires Wednesday, each of which is under control.
One blaze burned about 225 acres along Indian Hut Road, between Georgetown and Andrews. Another fire burned 80 acres on Sandy Island, but a number of residents on the island were not forced to leave their homes. The smallest fire, covering 50 to 60 acres, was on Hyatt Avenue near Murrells Inlet.
The Myrtle Beach Sun-News and Associated Press contributed.
