South-Carolina
South Carolina fire crews make progress battling wildfire that forced evacuations
Crews on Sunday made progress containing a wildfire in South Carolina’s Carolina Forest, where residents had been ordered to evacuate several neighborhoods, according to Horry county fire rescue.
Video showed some people running down the street as smoke filled the sky. But by late Sunday afternoon, the fire department announced that evacuees of Carolina Forest – which is west of the coastal resort city of Myrtle Beach – could return home.
That wildfire was one of several burning in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee amid dry conditions and gusty winds.
The region had faced an increased fire danger because it was critically dry and there was very low relative humidity, according to the National Weather Service.
More than 175 fires burned 6.6 sq miles (17sq km) in South Carolina. The state’s governor, Henry McMaster, declared a state of emergency on Sunday to support the wildfire response effort, and a statewide burning ban remained in effect.
The South Carolina forestry commission estimated on Sunday evening that the blaze in the Carolina Forest area had burned 2.5 sq miles (6.5sq km) with 30% of it contained. No structures had succumbed to the blaze, and no injuries had been reported as of Sunday morning, officials said.
In North Carolina, the US Forest Service said fire crews were working to contain multiple wildfires burning in four forests across the state on Sunday. The largest, about 400 acres (162 hectares), was at Uwharrie national forest, roughly 50 miles (80.47km) east of Charlotte. The Forest Service said on Sunday afternoon that it had made progress on the fire, reaching about one-third containment.
The small south-western town of Tryon in Polk county, North Carolina, urged some residents to evacuate on Saturday as a fire spread rapidly there. The evacuations remained in effect on Sunday. A decision on whether to lift them was expected to be made on Monday after intentional burns are set to try to stop the fire from spreading.
That fire has burned about 500 acres (202 hectares) as of late Sunday, with zero percent containment, according to the Polk county emergency management-fire marshal’s office. The North Carolina Forest Service was conducting water drops and back-burning operations on the ground, and area residents should expect a lot of smoke during those operations, officials said.
Officials have not said what caused any of the fires.
Meanwhile, in Georgia, at least six active fires burned late on Sunday, with nearly 3,700 acres burned over the previous week, a summary from the state forestry commission said.
And four small active wildfires burned on Sunday in Tennessee, the state’s agriculture department said, though all were controlled by early Monday. Those blazes were among 81 wildfires that had burned about 822 acres statewide over the previous week, the Tennessee agriculture department added.
South-Carolina
South Carolina’s Alicia Tournebize may be shy, but don’t doubt her drive, ex-teammate says
COLUMBIA — Alicia Tournebize, 18, is South Carolina women’s basketball’s youngest player.
But that’s nothing new. The 6-foot-7 forward was on the younger side of Tango Bourges Basket’s roster, the professional French club she played for before moving to Columbia.
With four-game sample size, Tournebize has shown glimpses of promise in a situation that doesn’t demand excellence anytime soon but greatly benefits from whatever she’s able to give.
“Alicia learns very quickly, over the year she joined the first team of Bourges, she has proven that she has her place among us,” said Tournebize’s former teammate Kariata Diaby in an email to The Greenville News.
Now Tournebize is starting to find her place for the No. 3 Gamecocks (20-2, 6-1 SEC).
Diaby, 30, played 13 games for the Connecticut Sun in the WNBA in 2025 before returning to France to play for Bourges. She is averaging 11.6 points, the second most on the team.
The 6-4 center watched as Tournebize navigated the jump to the professional level.
“For her first season, she was observant, given her age, which is quite normal, but over time she will become a great player and very complete on all levels,” Diaby wrote.
Tournebize arrived in Columbia Jan. 1 but didn’t play until Jan. 15, with practices beginning a week before she took the floor. She watched three games from the bench before checking in during the first quarter in the top-5 game vs Texas.
She scored no points in five minutes then scored eight points in 13 minutes against Coppin State on Jan. 18. In the loss to Oklahoma on Jan. 22, she scored nine points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and had three rebounds in 14 minutes, one of two players to finish with a positive plus/minus.
Against the Sooners she cut to the basket to catch an easy pass from Raven Johnson by the rim, hit a 3-point shot and nailed a short stop-and-pop jumper.
She can jump and elevate in ways most 6-7 players can’t. Diaby confirmed the ability to drive and shoot from both midrange and 3-point territory will stick around as a core part to Tournebize’s game. She had zero points vs. Vanderbilt on Jan. 25.
“She is able to counter and outsmart the opponent on defense,” Diaby wrote. “It’s complicated to score against her. She is a player who manages to do everything on the court whether it is near or far from the rim.”
Tournebize is averaging 4.3 points, 1.3 rebounds and 11.5 minutes ahead of Auburn (13-8, 2-5) on Jan. 29 (9 p.m. ET, SEC Network).
South Carolina has not made Tournebize available for interviews so far.
“I think she is someone who will quickly evolve in the world of basketball because she wants to learn and progress,” Diaby wrote.
Alicia Tournebize is South Carolina’s new quiet competitor
South Carolina coach Dawn Staley called Tournebize “unafraid” after two games.
“She is very competitive, she wants to win especially and does not like to lose, even if her shyness does not show it,” Diaby wrote. “She puts all the chances on her side and fights on all aspects and gives energy to her team.”
This maturation process requires attention to detail as she follows the blueprint that South Carolina has already laid out this season.
“Alicia is very kind, easy to live with on and off the court, she listens to others, that’s what I loved about her,” Diaby wrote. “She really has talent and wants to succeed at the highest level simply, all I wish her success in her career and in her life. She is someone who wants to shine everywhere.”
Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at LKesin@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X@Lulukesin and Bluesky@bylulukesin.bsky.social
COLUMBIA, SC (WACH) — State lawmakers in South Carolina are proposing a major overhaul of the Department of Transportation (DOT) to address the state’s aging road system without increasing the gas tax.
The plan, outlined in Senate Bill 831, aims to improve management and efficiency within the DOT by creating a new Transportation Coordinating Council. This council would bring together several state agencies to enhance decision-making processes.
Sen. Larry Grooms highlighted the financial resources available, stating, “We have an unobligated surplus of $1.7 billion from last year. We’re having an increase in state revenues over last year of about 1 billion. We now have 2.7 billion more dollars than we had last year.”
The proposal comes shortly after Gov. Henry McMaster requested lawmakers to allocate over a billion dollars for roads and bridges in the state budget.
Sen. Rex Rice emphasized the need to improve DOT efficiency, saying, “I think we’ve got to do everything we can to improve the efficiency of DOT, figuring out how to do projects without putting so much red tape into them.”
Instead of raising the gas tax, the bill suggests exploring alternative funding options, such as public-private partnerships, user fees, and tolls.
State Rep. Seth Rose stressed the importance of pedestrian safety, stating, “When we get into the heart of our neighborhoods and our community, walk capability, bike ability, and a sense of community need to be prioritized.”
Rose also expressed openness to discussing tolls as a potential funding source with other lawmakers.
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The Senate proposal has been referred to the Transportation Committee for further review.
Here are some ways you can save on gas
Here are some ways you can save on gas. 12/26/25
South Carolina is seeing a significant increase in gas prices, but one expert explained the price hike is not uncommon for this time of year.
GasBuddy, a North America platform that analyses gas price trends, reported that the average cost of a gallon in South Carolina rose from $2.468 on Jan. 19 to $2.617 on Jan. 26 — a difference of just under 15 cents.
Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, said the cost of diesel gas and gasoline have seen price increases lately. The rise in diesel gas can be explained by a burst of wintery weather facing many U.S. states this week, while the spike in gasoline prices is a little more complex.
According to De Haan, diesel gas prices are on the rise because diesel gas and heating oil are essentially the same product, leading to a spike in diesel demand when temperatures get colder.
“Diesel and heating oil are essentially the same product,” De Haan said. “It’s temperatures that would then cause heating oil demand to go up.”
De Haan went on to say that the rise in gasoline prices may be caused by time of year and recent geopolitical events. According to the analyst, gas prices usually start trending upward later in the winter.
During this time, refineries start to make summer gasoline, which has a lower Reid vapor pressure and is often pricier. It also coincides with spring break vacations, when many people take to the road and drive up demand for gasoline.
“Maybe in a few weeks, we could see prices stabilize or decline slightly,” De Haan said. “But also, beyond that, we’re getting closer to the start of the annual rise in gas prices that happens every spring.
Another driver for higher gasoline prices is the supply market overseas. The analyst pointed to three situations overseas that could be driving up the cost of a barrel of gasoline, making American consumers feel more of an impact on their wallets at the pump.
He said the ongoing situation in Venezuela, U.S. sanctions on Iran, and an oil field fire in Kazakhstan could all cause the price of gasoline to rise. De Haan said any disruption to global oil supply can be felt by consumers almost immediately.
“Iran is a major oil producer,” De Haan said. “Those sanctions President Trump puts on Iran make it more difficult for them to supply oil to the market, meaning that global oil supply could be negatively impacted by new sanctions.”
De Haan anticipates that the price of diesel will stay higher so long as colder temperatures stick around, but he is hopeful that those prices will start to come down within a few weeks.
As for regular gasoline, those prices could stay high or even rise simply because of the time of year.
“Enjoy these lower prices, because they will start to inch up as we get closer to summer,” De Haan said. “That’s something that happens every year.”
Bella Carpentier covers the South Carolina legislature, state, and Greenville County politics. Contact her at bcarpentier@gannett.com
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