Multiple fires, 37 busted pipes keep North Myrtle Beach Fire Department busy

North Myrtle Beach firefighters stayed busy all day Monday, battling fires and responding to dozens of calls for broken pipes.

At about 10 a.m. Monday morning, crews extinguished an electrical fire at Carolina Reef along the 1500 block of South Ocean Boulevard.

“With a steady run of broken pipe calls coming in during the afternoon hours, business really picked up after 5 p.m.,” according to a Facebook post by North Myrtle Beach Fire Rescue.

A fire truck and two different fire engines were being used at separate incidents when an alarm sounded at Peppertree Ocean Club on the 1900 block of North Ocean Boulevard about 5:30 p.m.

Crews found a working fire inside a laundry room on the second floor when they got on scene, and received help from another fire department as they evacuated everyone inside and got resources going to knock out the blaze, the Facebook post says.

“Crews were able to quickly knock down the bulk of the fire and began ventilation and overhaul operations. While crews continued to work the scene an influx of calls came in for other incidents,” according to the post.

“During the time frame when crews were on scene at the Peppertree fire, NMB Fire/Rescue received 11 ... calls, two of which involved the two structure fire investigations. Horry County Fire Rescue, Myrtle Beach Fire, and Calabash Fire assisted by handling the majority of these calls until NMB Fire Rescue could move some of its personnel back in service,” Pat Dowling, North Myrtle Beach city spokesman, said via email.

Briarcliffe Acres Police Department also aided firefighters by checking out a fire alarm call, according to the Facebook post.

Those two structure fire calls involved a blaze that damaged the outside of a Papa John’s restaurant along the 100 block of U.S. 17 at about 7 p.m., and a call for an incident at 3805 S. Ocean Blvd. where there was an overheated fire pump from broken sprinkler piping, but there was no active fire, Dowling said.

Prior to that, fire officials responded to a water leak that caused a piece of ceiling to fall in at North Shore Villas, located at 1003 South Ocean Blvd. Dowling told The Sun News that no one was hurt in the incident.

Dowling said Monday, that they were feeling the effects as the area and beyond thaws from the bitter cold and leftovers of Winter Storm Grayson. Also on Monday, a water main break sent water spraying into the air at Joe Mill Trail and Jeremy Loop in Socastee.

HCFR crews also stayed busy Monday battling multiple brush fires at different spots in the county, and other local fire departments juggled calls for incidents. Jonathan Evans, spokesman with Myrtle Beach Fire Department, said crews in Myrtle Beach got multiple calls for broken pipes, but no fire calls on Monday.

This story was originally published January 9, 2018 at 12:33 PM with the headline "Multiple fires, 37 busted pipes keep North Myrtle Beach Fire Department busy."