Crews work to control wildfires in drought-ravaged South

RICHMOND, Virginia (CNN) -- Fire crews made progress Monday in Virginia against brush fires that had been fanned by gale-force winds, officials said.

Gov. Tim Kaine declared a state of emergency Sunday night after hundreds of fires broke out across western and central Virginia. The wind accompanied a strong cold front that sent temperatures into the teens.

Officials said a few houses had been lost and no injuries were reported.

Shelters were opened near residential areas threatened by the fires. Watch flames devour woods in Virginia »

Similar fires flared up in the Carolinas. CNN affiliates reported some of the blazes started when the wind brought power lines into contact with tinder-dry trees.

The high winds had faded by Monday morning, but a spokesman for the Virginia governor's office said that fires were still burning in several areas.

Spokesman Gordon Hickey said some homes were lost. "I don't think anyone has been injured," he said.

As of Monday morning, Bob Spieldenner, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, said, "We don't think there are more than 100 to 200 fires statewide."

He said that "about a dozen houses were damaged that we know of," with a few likely to be declared a complete loss.

State officials were meeting Monday to tally property damage, the number of acres affected and the status of remaining fires.

In South Carolina, a similar wildfire outbreak destroyed at least 10 homes, state forestry officials said.

No deaths have been reported.

Lewis Cooper, who evacuated his home near Conway, South Carolina, told The Associated Press he could feel the intense heat from half a mile away.

Another Conway resident, Joseph Schell, told the AP the smoke made it hard to breathe, and he told a neighbor, "Get your dogs, get in your car and get out of here!"

Worshippers at Willow Spring Free Will Baptist Church near Raleigh, North Carolina, had to cut services short and evacuate the church Sunday when a wildfire approached, the fire chief in Cleveland, North Carolina, told the AP.

The church wasn't damaged, but two empty barns burned down and 20 homes were threatened, Fire Chief Chris Ellington told the AP.

The owner of one of the barns, Willie Clark, told CNN affiliate WRAL-TV the fire left his horse, Tootsie, without a home.

"I'm going have to keep her tied up all night long," he told the station.

CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano said winds gusting to 50 or 60 mph Sunday helped spread the fires.

John Campbell, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Forestry, said about half of Virginia's 95 counties reported "significant" wildfires early Monday, but he had no estimate of the total acreage. The largest, about 400 to 500 acres, was in Bedford County, near Roanoke, where county officials reported at least 10 fires burning.

Kaine's emergency declaration lets him organize people, equipment and resources to respond to the fires. Campbell said about 100 National Guard troops have been mobilized to help fight the fires, and his agency had five aircraft available to help.

In Moyock, in northeastern North Carolina near the Virginia line, fire officials told about 1,000 residents Sunday night to evacuate their homes and go to a shelter in a middle school, reported CNN affiliate WVEC-TV in Hampton Roads, Virginia.

Ann Sawyer refused, the station reported. "They were going to send us to the school, but the animals would have gone to the SPCA, and mine's not going," she said, referring to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

By 1 a.m. Monday, residents were allowed to return home, WVEC reported.

State forestry personnel battled the fires all day Sunday. State police and transport officials coordinated road closures made necessary by thick smoke and debris.

The South Carolina Forestry Commission reported 10 homes destroyed by wildfires that ranged up to several hundred acres. Firefighters were fighting more than 90 blazes statewide, but most were considered minor.

The worst was along a state highway in Horry County, near the state's Atlantic coast, and covered about 250 acres. A 60-acre fire in Spartanburg County, in the state's Piedmont region, was threatening a subdivision, the forestry commission said.

In Pickens County, South Carolina, residents used garden hoses to battle a fire that jumped across a street pushed by high winds, reported CNN affiliate WYFF-TV in Greenville.

Firefighters told the station they were able to control the blaze quickly because of the residents' fast response. E-mail to a friend

CNN's Paul Courson contributed to this report.

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