North Myrtle Beach Fire Station 7 aims to cut emergency response times

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) - On Tuesday, the North Myrtle Beach Fire Department says they are adding a new station.

Fire Station 7 will be located off Hunt Club and Water Tower roads, behind the UPS facility, placing it minutes from the Waterside neighborhood.

NMBFD said the new station will significantly reduce emergency response times to the Waterside residential area.

A recent incident highlighted the issue for some neighbors. Waterside resident Craig Nelson said a house on a nearby street was struck by lightning last week.

“Yeah, just last week a house on the next street got struck by lightning, that day prolly 10 minutes,” Nelson said.

Division Chief Michael Huber of NMBFD Support Services said the new station is designed to address response times.

“The early guess is that it would be a reduction of 5 minutes or more to say the Waterside residential area homes,” Huber said. “It’s gonna be a great increase in the service we have, which is why the city moved forward with the project.”

Huber said the value of faster response goes beyond cost.

“So to have this here, it just reduces that time, and you just can’t speak to the reduction of time, and when you call 911, and that’s the worst day, worst moment of your life when you call for us, to have that reduction in time,” Huber said. “I mean, I don’t think you can put a dollar sign on that amount, I mean, it’s worth everything.”

Michael and Lynn Materazzi recently moved into the Waterside area and said they support the new station.

“Yeah, I didn’t know anything about fire response around here, never thought about it, but now that you mention it, that’s very important,” Michael Materazzi said. “Police and fire, we’re very big supporters of both, so if you can get out here quickly and help people out here that are in need, like ASAP. We’re down for that.”

Lynn Materazzi said the station’s proximity to the neighborhood matters.

“Yeah, because I think it does take a while to get out of our complex, so it would be nice to have something a little bit closer as far as emergencies go,” she said.

Michael Materazzi added: “The faster the better, you know if a fire house is gonna move in next to the neighborhood and they’re gonna be here within 2 to 5 minutes, that’s awesome.”

Huber said the goal is to have Fire Station 7 open by the summer of next year, barring any major setbacks.

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