‘Entire livelihoods’ lost in North Myrtle Beach Flea Market fire. Here’s how you can help.
When a friend called to say the North Myrtle Beach Flea Market was on fire, Stacy DePinto drove over and watched her livelihood burn.
“She said, ‘Stacy, the flea market is on fire,” DePinto said she went straight to her car and arrived at the flea market as the fire was starting.
“I literally sat here and watched this thing burn to the ground. It was really hard. It was really, really hard,” she said fighting back tears.
DePinto and her husband sold tools and hardware at the North Myrtle Beach Flea Market for ten years. She estimated a loss of “easily” tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of goods in the fire.
“Everybody lost a lot,” she said. “They’ve lost everything their entire livelihoods.”
In the fire’s remains are blackened, disfigured versions of familiar objects. Melted vinyl records, charred baby dolls, distorted metal shelves, and burned books all take on the same color.
The tin roof collapsed entirely in some places, disfigured but upright in others. On nearby Doodles Snack Bar & Grill, the paneling is sagging, curling, frozen mid-melt.
You can smell it from yards away. The smell gets stuck in your nose, DePinto said. When she comes home from salvaging tools from the ashy remains of the fire, she undresses in the garage so as to not bring the smell home.
“At night, I’ve been putting Vicks in my nose because I can still smell that smell in my nose,” she said.
The day of the fire
It took the muscle of four fire departments nearly two hours to put out the three-alarm Feb. 3 fire. The blaze destroyed the biggest building at the North Myrtle Beach Flea Market. One person was injured.
The fire remains under investigation by Horry County Fire and Rescue. The fire was ruled an accident, but the cause of the blaze is still unknown, according to HCFR spokesperson Tony Casey.
Flea market customer Suzanne Mahler started an online fundraiser to provide relief to vendors that were impacted by the fire. As of Tuesday afternoon, the GoFundMe page had raised $75 of the $10,000 goal.
Baron Medlock, the manager of the flea market, estimated the cost of the building alone to be $300,000. It is the largest of the 18 buildings that make up the flea market.
Medlock said the remains of the building will be torn-down and construction will eventually begin on a new building.
Medlock called the fire a “total wipeout” of the building. He said vendors have been busy the last several days trying to assess their losses, “most of which is 100 percent,” Medlock said. “It’s been chaos.”
The rest of the flea market is still open and operating at usual business hours.
‘Everything is gone’
Betty Brewer, an antique dealer, owned the largest booth in the building. Her parents were also in the business, and she had antiques that were passed down to her from their shop in North Carolina.
At 86 years old, Brewer said her love of antiques has kept her alive.
“It’s pretty much my life. It’s what’s kept me living so long,” she said.
Brewer’s antique shop was located on the side of the building where the fire appears to have started and the damage is visibly worse She estimated her losses to be between $90,000 and $100,000.
“Everything is gone,” Brewer said. “I’m pretending it’s not happening. I’ve cried ‘til I know there’s no point to cry. It won’t bring it back.”
