For those that live in or near South Carolina, are you concerned that recent park rangers and firefighters fired by doge will hamper getting the fires under control?

I don’t think the fired park rangers and firefighters will do anything to hamper fire control.
I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them helped without pay.

I think the loss of personnel caused by firing them, is what could impede fire fighting efforts.

DOGE doesn’t fire local firefighters. I live in NC, not far from where the fires are. A couple years ago we had an area catch fire and it burned something like 11,000 acres. We didn’t have park rangers or any federal response. Local fire fighters were all that fought it.

@seawulf575 I would think if any fires burned in National Parks, they would use Federal firefighters. Federal fire fighters get training in Wildland firefighting. Regular firefighters may get a little training or given direction by federal fire fighters about what is the best way to approach a big fire as huge fires spread I would think they would ask the professionals. Not saying they would just sit back and watch but your regular firefighters don’t have access to the helicopters that dump water on big forest fires and I’m sure access to a lot of different tools they have access too. Also rangers help in fires. They take note of different areas that have changed over the months and give firefighters the lay of the land.

@Brian1946 I see how my sentence structure there may have confused things. I’m not say that the unemployed firefighters and rangers will purposely make fires worse. I meant them not being able to help in fires with make matters worse.

The fire is down by Myrtle Beach, just a bit inland. There are no national parks in that area. As for the pilots, there are many aerial firefighting companies (non-government) in the country. Here’s an example of one:

https://billingsflyingservice.com/aerial-firefighting-companies/

I would imagine they would have ready-to-go contracts that could be signed to get them moving towards the fire, as soon as someone pays for it. In this case I guess it would be the state of South Carolina, though the government could step in with funds/assistance if necessary.

@seawulf575 Creating contracts takes time. And I use to visit Myrtle Beach. There is a lot of wilderness around it.

The Heritage Preserve is right where some of the fires are, but there are a lot of homes and developments in the area as well.

I just got an update from my wife who is watching it frequently. Columbus County (NC) fire department has sent units down to help fight the blaze. I’ve found that Clarendon, Saluda, and Kershaw counties in SC have also sent units to help. The governor declared a state of emergency and seems to have called out the National Guard and they are helping with aerial firefighting.

About ⅓ of people from WV move to Myrtle Beach. It’s jokingly called Little WV around here. I hope they all are safe.

I heard that FEMA is hamstrung because their credit card limits were reduced to $1, so can’t do anything that will cost money.

Correct @RocketGuy all US Government CCs were zeroed for 30 days. https://nypost.com/2025/02/26/us-news/trump-orders-30-day-freeze-on-use-of-us-government-credit-cards/

Co-President Musk’s idea and approved by the Russian agent in the White House.