Police, fire hustle on Fourth of July along Grand Strand

Horry County emergency dispatchers received nearly 1,500 more calls Sunday and Monday than they did during last year's Independence Day holiday, likely because of the Hornet Fire burning in the woods near Carolina Forest.

Ninety-four of those were police calls related to fireworks, said county spokeswoman Lisa Bourcier, and 65 were fire-and-rescue calls regarding brush fires.

Some of those fires started because of stray embers from the Hornet Fire, which crews are still fighting. And the hot, windy weather is not helping as smaller fires continue to crop up around the region.

But fires weren't the only thing to spark calls for assistance. The peak holiday visitor weekend always means more calls for assistance with everything from fender benders to major incidents. And this year it meant more work for Horry County's dispatchers, because they have added Conway Police Department to the list of calls they answer at night and on weekends and holidays. That meant 300 more calls for the county to answer over the long weekend.

Some of the other police departments shared Horry County's pain as the weekend's crowds, traffic, heat and fires kept emergency workers hopping.

Statewide, the S.C. Department of Public Safety said, nine people were killed on highways between 6 p.m. July 1 and midnight Monday. Last year, six died, but in 2005, the last time the Fourth of July fell on a Monday, 17 people were killed.

The Grand Strand saw three accidental deaths this weekend, including the drowning of a St. Matthews man, a teen from Mullins who fell to his death from a hotel balcony and a single-car wreck on Farrow Parkway that killed a Murrells Inlet man.

Myrtle Beach Police officers stayed busy with reports of robberies, a purse snatching and other incidents, Capt. David Knipes said.

On Monday, officers were called to two attempted armed robberies, including one in which the robber shot at a taxi driver as he sped away, and a purse snatching, Knipes said. Minor injuries were reported in the incidents. Police are searching for the robbers.

Police reports show there were also several calls about public intoxication, minors in possession of alcohol, illegal fireworks possession and disorderly conduct.

North Myrtle Beach reported no unusual incidents nor an increase in calls, said city spokesman Pat Dowling, and while there were some unusual incidents on the south end of the Grand Strand, "it wasn't terribly bad," said Midway Fire Rescue spokesman Bob Beebe.

Seven people were pulled from the water in Pawleys Island on Sunday morning, some of whom had gone in to rescue others who were at risk of drowning. Beebe said there was also a car fire near Brookgreen Gardens on Monday that shut down southbound traffic on U.S. 17 for about 20 minutes.

S.C. Department of Public Safety spokesman Sid Gaulden released a preliminary report Tuesday showing that as of Monday, 399 people have died on the state's highways, compared to 392 deaths in the same time period in 2010.

Of the 288 motor vehicle occupants who have died in 2011, 152 were not wearing seat belts.

Through midnight Monday, 48 pedestrians, 48 motorcyclists and seven bicyclists died on state roads and highways to date, Gaulden said.