Latest news with #NorthMyrtleBeachFireRescue
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
North Myrtle Beach firefighters talk about ‘cool' experience fighting Upstate wildfire
NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — Four North Myrtle Beach firefighters who recently returned home after helping fight the Table Rock fire in South Carolina's Upstate spoke with News13 about their experience. North Myrtle Beach Fire Rescue deployed three crews between March 26 and Tuesday, with each crew spending two days in Pickens County. The firemen said they felt fortunate to help a different part of the state and make an impact. 'Not everyone gets to experience that in their career,' Chris McCarty said. 'So, it's cool.' Lt. Ryan Marrs said while the South Carolina Forestry Commission was working to fight the fire, North Myrtle Beach crews helped make sure it didn't reach residents and their homes. Marrs said the area was very rural, with houses far away from each other on dead-end roads along ridge lines. The firemen agreed working on that landscape was the hardest part of the job. 'They were very tight, dirt roads that you can't get a fire engine up,' McCarty said. 'So, you have to use smaller brush trucks, and ATVs, and foot crews.' Many people needed to evacuated their homes, and Marrs said one woman who left was 'frazzled' while trying to also protect her pets in the process. Just like Horry County when the Covington Drive fire in Carolina Forest initially broke out, Lt. Josh Beck says the Pickens County community came together to take care of first responders. 'The volunteers that were providing the food and snacks and everything like that, the ones that were manning the staging area, they were excellent,' Beck said. 'They couldn't have been nicer.' The firefighters' deployments were made possible by the 'South Carolina Firefighter Mobilization' plan. Whenever a fire department needs help, other departments across the state share their crews and resources. 'The brotherhood is alive and well for all of South Carolina,' Beck said. 'That's one of the great things about working in the state, is you can go anywhere and you're going to be amongst friends.' * * * Skylar Musick is a multimedia journalist at News13. Skylar is originally from Long Island, New York. She joined the News13 team in June 2024 after graduating from Villanova University in May 2024. Follow Skylar on X, formerly Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, and read more of her work here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
02-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
LIVE UPDATES: 400-plus firefighters working on Carolina Forest blaze; 50 evacuated from 7 neighborhoods
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — Check here for the live updates on the wildfires going on in Carolina Forest and other areas of the Grand Strand and Pee Dee. Dozens of fire agencies from across the Carolinas have joined Horry County crews as they work against the sweeping Carolina Forest wildfire, including: Williamsburg County Fire Department North Myrtle Beach Fire Rescue Myrtle Beach Fire Department Conway Fire Department Dillon County Fire Department Lugoff Fire Department Marion City Fire Department Johnsonville Fire Department Howe Springs Fire Rescue Sandridge Volunteer Fire Department Calabash Fire Department Tabor City Fire Department Olanta Fire Department Hannah-Salem Friendfield Fire District Sardis-Timmonsville Fire Department Goose Creek Fire Department Florence City Fire Department Surfside Beach Fire Department Wilmington Fire Department Columbus County Fire Department More than 50 people have checked into a Red Cross shelter at the Carolina Forest Recreation Center as state Forestry Commission officials estimate the wildfire to be at least 1,200 acres. Seven Carolina Forest neighborhoods have seen evacuations, most recently in Spring Lake and Waterford. Horry County officials said there's still no timeline for re-entry. Aerial assets from multiple state agencies are arriving in Horry County to help put out hotspots around the Carolina Forest area, lawmakers said. 'Air assets from State Agencies (South Carolina Forestry Commission and the Department of Natural Resources) will soon be deployed in an effort to tamp down remaining hot spots in the Carolina Forest area affected by the wildfires,' state Sen. Luke Rankin, R-Conway, posted to his Facebook page Sunday morning. State Rep. Tim McGinnis, R-Myrtle Beach, said on his Facebook page that forestry officials told him Blackhawk helicopters are among the aircraft coming in. Here's a map from the South Carolina Forest Commission showing the active wildfires across the state. Fire resources from the Pee Dee are assisting with the Carolina Forest wildfire. Howe Springs Fire Rescue said Florence County has four engines, three tankers, three brush trucks and 28 personnel working the fire. Evacuations in the Carolina Forest area expanded quickly early Sunday morning as a wildfire grew to 1,200 acres. Around 6 a.m., Horry County officials said evacuations were underway at the intersections of Spring Lake Drive, including Pennyroyal Court, Alyssum Court and Bluebonnet Court as well as Harvest Drive from Moonbeam Court to Tidelands Court in the Spring Lake community. Around 4:45 a.m., Horry County officials announced that public safety personnel were evacuating Covington Drive from Summerhill Drive to the community center in the Covington Lakes neighborhood, with nearby structures threatened. Evacuees are told to go to the Carolina Forest Recreation Center. Others are asked to avoid the area and leave roadways open for first responders. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
