by State Firewise & Prevention Coordinator Drake Carroll
Hello from the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) team! There have been a lot of changes to our team, but we are finally back to full staff.
New addition
Former Berkeley/Upper Charleston Sector Fire Management Officer (FMO) Wade Truesdale officially started as Coastal Firewise & Prevention Field Coordinator at the beginning of March, and we are excited to have him on our team.
With the increase in urban sprawl in the coastal area of the state, wildfire prevention and mitigation efforts are only becoming more crucial.
I am sure that Wade will be able to use his local knowledge, experience and connections to make a difference for communities and residents in that area.
A changing SC landscape
The urban sprawl is not unique to the coastal region. It appears to be happening across the state, and it’s becoming more of an issue that we must all work together to address.
I’m sure that we don’t need to rehash last March to any of you.
Most of us were on either the Covington Drive Fire or the Table Rock Complex, and many of us were on both fires.
I’d once again like to thank you for all your hard work during these incidents. Having two major fires on opposite sides of the state while still keeping our firefighters, residents and structures protected is no easy task.
With the changing environment, in terms of both landscape and weather conditions, it is important for us to continue to increase our prevention and mitigation efforts statewide.
Prevention plan
Early 2026 was looking to be another active fire season. It was very similar to what we saw during the early part of 2025. With the potential outlook, we planned to kick off our wildfire prevention campaign to help reduce the number of fire ignitions statewide.
Part of this prevention plan was to focus much of our efforts on the Helene-impacted areas of the state. We knew that all the heavy debris would be a huge factor in our suppression efforts and in fuel loading across these areas. We saw both factors greatly impact the Table Rock Fire.
As time goes on, even more of this heavy debris will become readily available fuel for a fire.
Thankfully, we did start to get some precipitation across the state, which gave us a little better outlook, but we are not out of the woods yet. Once we hit a dry spell, we will be right back to an elevated number of fire occurrences.
The WUI team has pre-positioned pamphlets to the regions in preparation for running traplines in our wildfire hotspot areas across the state.
If you haven’t had the opportunity to check it out yet, I encourage you to explore our Wildfire Occurrence Map.
Mitigation news
Our regional folks have been working hard to install firebreaks and complete prescribed burns around the state, and with the overactive wildfire season we experienced last year, it’s great that we’ve put so much good fire on the ground this year already.
We have a few different grant funding opportunities for our mitigation efforts.
Over the past few years, we’ve aimed to increase the number of acres treated statewide.
In 2024-25 we received an honorable mention from the Wildfire Mitigation Awards for the efforts of both the WUI team and regional personnel.
The number of acres treated last year was down due to the large fires we had; however, this year is shaping up to be a successful year.
There is still time to get mitigation projects funded for your landowners if you have not done so already. Please contact your WUI field coordinator with any questions or guidance on funding availability.
There is also an additional grant to fund mitigation projects in Helene-impacted counties. Because of the overwhelming amount of debris in these areas, we would appreciate having additional input from our regional folks on the implementation of these projects. Firebreak installations, prescribed burns and mastication projects will not be “run of the mill” in these areas. It will be important to get input on how we can all make the biggest impact on the landscape in these areas of the state.
Here to help
Our new WUI team is here to assist and work with you to make our state safer from wildfires. Another aspect of our team, as you know, is to educate and interact with the public. One of the best ways to do that is to attend events around the state.
Upstate Firewise & Prevention Field Coordinator Helen Mohr secured a booth for our team at the Greenville Home & Garden Show last month.
These events are a great opportunity to connect with the public while spreading our prevention and mitigation message.
This event gave us the opportunity to interact with over 500 attendees in one weekend!
We answered questions and gave tips to homeowners about how they can make their homes safer from wildfires. Special thanks to Helen, Wade and Trey Cox for helping during this event.
Again, I want to thank everyone for your efforts across the state. The WUI Team is available and ready to work with you all to help make our state safer from wildfires.