Police | Crew checks hundreds of smoldering tires

Police

GEORGETOWN COUNTY

Crew checks hundreds of smoldering tires

The Georgetown County Fire Department kept an eye throughout Friday on hundreds of smoldering tires at 449 Lot Drive in the Plantersville community, Chief Mack Reed said.

The fire started about 10:25 p.m. Thursday when the property owner, whose name Reed did not have, was burning scrap wood that ignited the tires.

Reed said the man separates tires from their rims in order to sell the rims.

Reed said his department sent four trucks and crews to the fire. They were there for about two hours.

The department has been checking periodically on the still-smoking tires since then, Reed said.

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH

Suspect in sexual assault sought

North Myrtle Beach police are asking for the public's help in finding a suspect in a sexual assault that happened at 4 a.m. Tuesday on the beach in the 17000 block of South Ocean Boulevard, according to a news release.

The man is described as 6 feet tall, about 185 pounds, about 26 to 29 years old and with light brown hair. The man is described as having crooked bottom teeth and was said to be wearing a dark-colored Polo-style shirt with a white T-shirt underneath and tan-colored, cargo-style shorts.

The suspect also wore a silver metal watch with a large round face piece and had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath and body, the news release said

Anyone with information is asked to call North Myrtle Beach police Detective J.S. McGarlin at 280-5506.

MYRTLE BEACH

Teen stabbed in fight, police report

A 16-year-old man was stabbed about 11 p.m. Thursday in an altercation with a 21-year-old man in front of apartments at 2005 Greens Blvd., Capt. David Knipes of the Myrtle Beach Police Department said this morning.

The 16-year-old was treated and released at a hospital, and a warrant is pending for Warren Graver, the suspect, Knipes said.

Knipes said the two were in an altercation in front of the apartments when Graver allegedly pulled out a pair of scissors and stabbed the 16-year-old.

MYRTLE BEACH

Cyclist injured in wreck with car

A 20-year-old bicyclist was injured about 12:20 p.m. Friday when she was struck from behind by a car on Kings Highway, Lance Cpl. Paul Brouthers of the S.C. Highway Patrol said.

Mihaela Cumpana of Myrtle Beach struck her head on the windshield of a car being driven by a 71-year-old woman and fell to the street. Brouthers said Cumpana was knocked unconscious by the impact, but that later she was talking. She didn't remember the crash. She was taken to a hospital.

The collision happened because Cumpana's bicycle veered into the path of the car, Brouthers said.

No charges were filed.

Local

GRAND STRAND

Storms likely to cause rip currents

The National Weather Service in Wilmington, N.C., is warning that rip currents associated with Hurricane Danielle and Tropical Storm Earl were expected to begin along the Grand Strand on Friday afternoon and to persist into next week.

Wave models have consistently shown the arrival of forerunner swells from Danielle by Friday afternoon, but forecasters said it would not be unusual for them to begin 12 hours earlier. That means that the low tide Friday afternoon could begin a period of strong to moderate rip currents, according to the Weather Service.

Rip currents are formed by water moving quickly away from beaches into the ocean. People can be trapped in them and pulled hundreds of feet into the ocean. Drownings have been caused by entrapment in rip currents.

Experts advise those caught in a rip current to remain calm and try to navigate parallel to the shore out of the current. If that is not possible, continue to remain calm and float or tread water until you no longer feel the pull of the rip current and then swim at an angle toward shore.

The Weather Service said the swells from Danielle will vary, but generally increase in height over the weekend into early next week. Swells from Earl are expected to arrive next week, the Weather Service said