MYRTLE BEACH FIRES

[Mark Ray]

I have alot of fishermen buddies that live at or near Myrtle Beach. Please help me say a prayer the winds die soon so the firemen and get this under control. I spoke to Ace1st yesterday and he said he can see the fires from his property and that 4 or 5 house burnt to the ground since the fires started. They suspect arson. Here is a link to some pics, hard to believe it's that bad.
http://www.thesunnews.com/1144/gallery/871131.html

[billyocean]

I have some family down there and one of them said his and one other home on his street were the only two left standing. His neighbors was currently burning. My aunt lives off of hwy 90 and she has been evacuated as of around noon today. Hope the wind lays so they can get this under control

[blockhead]

from today's "waterway guide":
An overnight wildfire in Myrtle Beach, SC, has burned 40 homes and caused the evacuation of more than 2,500 people. Most of the home damage is reported to have occurred in the Barefoot Landing area at Mile 354.

The Coast Guard has issued travel warnings for the ICW, due to the ash and thick smoke that are blanketing the area. Of primary concern to mariners, the focus of the fire seems to be between ICW Miles 354 and 357, while the smoke effects are reported to cover a 20-mile-long area.

Mariners are urged to take the appropriate precautions while traveling the area and stay tuned to Waterway Guide for more detaiils.


SC: Myrtle Beach - ICW Closure - Mile 347.3 to Mile 365.4


Due to the wildfires we reported on earlier this morning, the Coast Guard is shutting down the ICW between Miles 347.3 and 365.4.

The Captain of the Port of Charleston is establishing a Safety Zone between the U.S. Highway 501 Bridge (Mile 365.4, 65-foot fixed vertical clearance) and the Little River Swing Bridge (Mile 347.3, 7-foot closed vertical clearance).

No vessels my enter this area without permission of the Captain of the Port of Charleston, but vessels already on the water are allowed to exit this zone.

[Brendon]

Its pretty smokey here in Morehead from it. Heard they need a good rain to put it out because its the peat? that is burning.

[marlineer]

I have been watching this all day here at work.There is some bad shit happening there. I am praying for the safety of everyone involved, especially the Firefighters. You know....the Guy's running towards where everyone else is running from. If it is in fact the peat and wind that is fueling that fire, and I imagine Pines, it will be difficult to control without a good hard rain.

[Captcrafton]

17,500 acres and counting! When I went to bed last night the news said 3000 acres burned and the fire was under control! The last I heard @ 11:00 news it was 40% contained and still going strong. This is bad. Keep all of our firemen in your prayers!

[Agitated88]

My heart goes out to those guys...fishergirl and I went through the same chit two weeks ago. We could see the fires from her front porch, fortunately the winds were blowing to the NE and kept them away from her house. I had two guys with pumper trucks in their front yard for hours...it literally charred the grass inches from the house, but the homes were saved. Prayers sent to those affected now.

[Ace1st]

Guys.......its BAD. As a former Public Safety Officer I thought I had seen about everything. But none of that prepared me for what we saw Weds night and Thursday. We had been following the fire Weds evening with winds pushing the flames at an unbelievable pace! As the evening wore on the winds died down a little and the false sense of relief was felt among us all. We knew we had to get it contained now.

During the nite the wind shifted and picked up again pushing the flames directly into Barefoot Resort about 2 AM. One of the finer Developments in the area. Flames 40-60 ft tall jumped from tree top to tree top! An evacuation of the Barefoot developement was ordered and families were literally snatched from their homes by police and firemen. Some doors were actually kicked down to wake those inside. In a matter of 5 minutes, homes were a blaze. How no one was killed in the melee I cant figure out. In all 70+ homes were destroyed or damaged. All this in a matter of minutes. The wall of flames rolled over many of the homes like tumbleweed.

Thursday morning we found winds to be down from Weds and the worst of the fire to be in an area with little housing. But that all changed around 4Pm when the wind shifted and gained some strength. The new path of the fire took it straight to the Popular and Wampee communities which are heavily populated. At times we were literally going from house to house grabbing people from their homes. All the while with Black Hawk helicopters dropping huge buckets of water on us from the air. Unbeleivable how people just freeze when they are terrified! Saw many people who just walked back in their homes with the vinyl siding melting from the walls. Most of these were older people who just refused to run anymore. So sad! As the flames came into their yards, fire trucks and forestry dozers would do their best to keep the flames off the homes. I know of one home that could not be saved and the residents were physically removed from the dwelling by firefighters. The others received heavy damage but for the most part were saved.

Fortunately, no one we know of has been killed but all the homes have not been searched either. Some injuries did occur when fire rolled over a forestry dozer and the fireman took cover under his reflective blanket in a ditch. He did recieve some burns. So far several fire fighting vehicles have been destroyed due to the speed of the fire being pushed by the winds.

Hopefully, with the high humidity and the winds laying down a bit we can get it contained.

Please pray for it to rain on us soon. On its present course, it will be entering Carolina Forrest by this evening. Carolina Forrest contains several thousand homes and is directly in the path of this 7 mile wide fire.

Hopefully, it can be contained soon.

[Tenacious]

Prayers sent Ace!!!!

[marlineer]

This is all I have been thinking about for 2 days now. I pray for everyones safety. I wish I could help!