Wildfire near Shallotte grows to 50 acres, evacuation order lifted

SHALLOTTE, NC (WWAY) — Residents have now returned to their homes after some evacuated from a Shallotte-area neighborhood due to a forest fire Thursday evening.

The Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office says residents in the Lakewood Estates area off Ocean Isle Beach Road were being evacuated, though it was not mandatory.

The fire has since been mostly contained, with local fire departments remaining on scene overnight to handle it, along with NC Forest Services.

According to a Brunswick County spokesperson, the fire covered about 50 acres.

Resident Walter Jameson lives in Lakewood and said he went back to his home around 8 pm.

“I thought it was supposed to be mandatory so I packed up, my car is loaded. And then as I was getting ready to pull out, my neighbor told me no, it’s not mandatory. So that’s why I’m here standing with you, I’m going back home.”

Several other residents were also prepared to evacuate, with some packing up valuable items such as their house deed, clothes, pets, and more.

One resident said they started seeing smoke around 6 pm.

Brunswick County Commissioner Mike Forte said he’s glad it took just a few hours for the fire to be contained and gave a possible cause for it.

“It’s certainly not as big as it was back in July but again, just a rekindling. There was a hot spot apparently, yesterday that flared up but it was small, local FD came by and knocked it down pretty quickly. There was some smoke, a little bit but its the underbrush that just simply rekindled. So it’s a rekindling from the previous fire? The July 10th fire, yes.”

No homes were threatened or damaged by the fire.