North Myrtle Beach Fire Rescue calls for help break record; Officials make plans to open more stations

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) - North Myrtle Beach Fire Rescue’s 2022 incident report shows a little more than 6,200 calls for help, which is around 300 more than in 2021.

According to the report, the majority of those calls were for rescue and EMS incidents such as car crashes.

Call for hazardous conditions more than doubled, from around 90 calls in 2021 to nearly 260 calls in 2022.

Those calls are for things such as the smell of gas or possible fires.

Deputy Fire Marshall, Jay Ortiz said these numbers show how their department is working to meet the needs of the community.

“We’re happy to say that we are growing and are able to keep up with those calls,” said Ortiz. “47% of our calls had multiple calls going on at one time. So, very busy this past year and so I don’t see it slowing down anytime soon.”

Nearly half of the time, fire crews received other calls when the department was already responding to one.

Ortiz said with the increased demand, they’re looking to open two new fire stations, including Station 6 and Station 7 all to continue meeting the needs of the community.

Ortiz said Station 7 should open within the next three years, but there are currently no timelines for Station 6.

He said, “Both stations have already been approved. It’s a long process of drawing out plans, and getting the site, and all that stuff. All those hoops to jump through. It’s just a matter of when we need to pull the trigger.”

You can find their full report here.

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