A South Carolina woman was arrested for allegedly sparking a massive 2,059-acre wildfire that caused evacuations and threatened hundreds of homes in the Myrtle Beach area last week.
Alexandra Bialousow, 40, was busted on Thursday after several neighbors reported seeing the kindler intentionally start a fire in a backyard fire pit near a tree line within Convington Lakes Subdivision in Carolina Forest on March 1, according to the South Carolina Forestry Commission.
Officials accused the firebug of failing to take proper precautions to stop her debris burn from escaping the pit, negligently allowing the fire to spread to “land of another,” and lacking an appropriate water source or garden tools to control the blaze.
The inferno, called the Convington Drive Fire, erupted Saturday afternoon and rapidly spread, as flames engulfed the tree line in Horry County and turned the sky of the tourist destination an eerie shade of orange as smoke billowed uncontrollably, according to footage shared by fire officials and residents.
Officials ordered evacuations in several neighborhoods across the Grand Strand shortly after the fire sparked. Orders were lifted the next day in Carolina Forest, just 10 miles from Myrtle Beach.
The South Carolina National Guard also dispatched Black Hawk helicopters to combat the blaze and a state of emergency was declared.
As of Friday, the inferno was 55% contained as local, state and regional fire department’s work to extinguish the flames, according to Horry County Fire Rescue.
No homes or structures have been destroyed and there are no reported injuries or fatalities.
Bialousow was charged with negligently allowing fire to spread to lands or property of another and starting fire in woodlands, grasslands, and other places unlawful unless certain precautions are taken.
She was booked at J. Reuben Long Detention Center Thursday afternoon and posted a $15,000 bond Friday, jail records show.
