NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — South Carolina’s biggest wildfire in more than three decades — a blaze 4 miles wide — destroyed dozens of homes Thursday and threatened some of the area’s world-famous golf courses at the height of the spring tourist season.
The flames, fed by tinder-dry scrubland, forced hundreds of people to flee, and some took shelter in the House of Blues honky-tonk.
The fire got within 1 1/2 miles of Route 17, the main coastal road that links beachfront towns and is lined with fast-food restaurants, beachwear stores and trinket shops.
Thursday evening, authorities said the blaze had burned nearly 31 square miles, and the fire was 40 percent contained.
It had headed away from the high-rise hotels that line Myrtle Beach. There were no reports of injuries, and officials said they had not determined what sparked the flames.
Fueled by dry underbrush and highly combustible swamp peat, the blaze leveled about 70 homes and damaged 100 others early Thursday as the fire jumped a four-lane highway.
The flames also forced authorities to evacuate 2,500 people.
Much of the damage was concentrated at Barefoot Landing, a sprawling complex of houses, condominiums and golf courses separated from the main route through Myrtle Beach by the Intracoastal Waterway.
“The house is completely gone,” said Rachel Plaga, a 38-year-old nurse, who later began sobbing. “It was like Armageddon back there. There was nothing. Everything was gone. My whole life. My kid’s whole life. It was horrific.”
The fire appeared to have hopscotched through the neighborhood.
