HORRY COUNTY, SC (WBTW) – Right now if you want to set off fireworks in unincorporated parts of Horry County, you legally can. But since the early 2000’s, the county can now create certain “Fireworks-Prohibited Zones.”
There is often a lot of confusion over where you can and cannot light off, and in Monday’s county public safety meeting News13 got a better idea of what it takes to become one of those “no zones.”
A county sign on the Oak Avenue public beach access in Garden City reads, “No fireworks allowed in Fireworks-Free Zones,” but the sign does not specify exactly where those are.
The Seabanks condos and the public parking lot next to them became the newest prohibited zone, and all it took was a husband and wife to ask for it.
“We felt like we could live there and have a really great life there,” said Ashley Ellerbeck. “But our dreams were dashed pretty quickly with the nuisance fireworks.”
She and her husband Eric thought they were moving into their dream condo on the beach. “And then we got there, and I was just like in tears all the time thinking like, ‘you can’t sleep,’” Ellerbeck said.
The two said during the summer people shoot off fireworks three or four times a night. Those people are not doing anything illegal, but Ellerbeck said it is more than a noise nuisance. “In some cases they were actually hitting our building with the fireworks as well and doing a bit of damage to the decks out front.”
They approached the public safety committee Monday about their condo and the public property around it becoming a fireworks free zone. The approval was an easy process, with Horry County Police encouraging it.
“If there’s some folks that want to petition this group here, we’re all about it,” Deputy Chief Lance Winburn told the rest of the committee.
The department patrols about 14 miles of unincorporated beaches. “We can extend our enforcement to any additional piece of property down there that you folks see fit.”
Once a request is approved you cannot set off fireworks within 500 feet of the property. Ellerbeck and Ciappio said they were surprised how easy it was to get their request approved, which includes an area of public parking.
“I thought it was actually gonna be a little bit difficult to get,” Ellerbeck said. “Because we are a vacation town, and so I know a lot of us are geared towards maintaining that, but it’s effectively our backyard that people are lighting fireworks off in.”
The county does not have a list of prohibited zones on their website, and the only way to really tell where they are is by signs that designate the areas.
Other firework-free zones include areas in Walkers Woods, Briarcliffe Forest, Briarwood, Coastal Villas, Marsh Hills, Myrtle Beach Travel Park and Springmaid Beach—to name a few.
If you want to request that an area become a “Fireworks Prohibited Zone,” according to the county:
- To extend the Prohibited Zone into public property, the adjoining property owner, lessee or managing authority must make a written application by filling out an Application for Extension of Fireworks Prohibited Zone.
- A completed Application for Extension of Fireworks Prohibited Zone and a completed Discharge of Fireworks Prohibited Agreement must be submitted to the Horry County Public Safety Division by mail or fax.
After that, the Horry County Public Safety Committee will hold a public hearing on your request. If approved, the owner, lessee or managing authority must post at least two signs on their property, which will be issued at the public hearing. The costs of the signs are $17.00 each.
You can read more about the process here.
