The North Myrtle Beach barge caught on fire amidst inspections. What happens next?
The large looming barge off the shorelines of North Myrtle Beach caught on fire late Wednesday night, according to a statement from the North Myrtle Beach Fire Rescue.
Crews were called in shortly after 9 p.m. on Wednesday night after receiving reports about a possible fire onboard the barge about 1500 feet off the beach around 21st Avenue South, the statement said.
Before getting on boats to go to the barge, first responders got in touch with the crew aboard the barge, who told them they were able to successfully extinguish the flames on their own.
Spokesperson for the City of North Myrtle Beach, Lauren Jessie said Thursday that there are no damages to the barge itself, but the dive equipment that ocean outfall inspectors have been using was damaged.
She said they’re anticipating one to two weeks before they can restart work on inspecting the outfalls.
“They will be pausing work until they can get reoutfitted,” she said via text message to The Sun News.
Barge staff are also waiting for the United States Coast Guard to complete inspections on the vessel before they can resume.
That could also delay restarting the inspections, Jessie said, it just depends on how long the inspections take.
Divers and staff previously worked on the barge to inspect the six ocean outfalls to see if they had sustained any storm damage that needed work.
Before the fire, North Myrtle Beach Streets and Drainage Supervisor Johnny Burton said divers hadn’t found any significant damage in the outfalls they’d inspected so far this summer.
After the 21st Avenue location inspection is completed, they will have two more to go at 38th Avenue South and then 45th Ave South.
