Fires Threaten Homes in Carolinas, Va.

CONWAY, S.C. -- Wind-whipped wildfires chased churchgoers from worship, forced hundreds of residents to flee homes and closed highways across the rain-starved Carolinas and Virginia on Sunday.

Twelve small structures, including at least one business and an unknown number of homes and sheds, were damaged by a blaze near the South Carolina coast; no injuries were reported, authorities said.

About 60 homes were briefly evacuated Sunday afternoon as the fire sent smoke billowing above this city of about 11,000 people about 15 miles northwest of Myrtle Beach.

"The flames were at the top of the trees and I could feel the heat," said Lewis Cooper, 37, who fled the fire.

In North Carolina, winds gusting up to 60 mph in some areas toppled trees and power lines and also fanned brush fires.

The Willow Spring Free Will Baptist Church in Cleveland, N.C., just south of Raleigh, was holding a worship service when a fire forced it to evacuate, the town's Fire Chief Chris Ellington said.

The church was spared any damage as high winds whipped the flames across 50 acres, burning two empty barns and threatening about 20 homes, Ellington said. No injuries were reported.

Hundreds of western Virginia homes were under a mandatory evacuation as wildfires spread. High winds took down trees and knocked out power to thousands of homes and businesses.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine declared a state of emergency and activated the Virginia National Guard to help fight wildfires.

Bedford County issued an evacuation order for the Montvale area after a wildfire grew up to more than two-thirds of a square mile, or 500 acres, by Sunday, said county spokesman Bill Hoy.

Since then, 30-plus-mph winds created so much smoke that gauging the fire's size became impossible. The number of people affected by the evacuation was not immediately known. An elementary school was set up as an evacuation center.

In South Carolina, Horry County Fire Rescue spokesman Todd Cartner said the fire burned nearly a third of a square mile, or up to 200 acres, of forest before it was contained just north of Conway.