LITCHFIELD BEACH, SC (WBTW)- As tourist season begins to ramp up, Midway Fire Rescue is getting ready for hundreds of thousands of people to hit the beach.
Midway Fire Rescue is getting ready for the busy season by practicing their ocean rescue procedures.
They do rescue simulations with dummies and jet skis to know how to maneuver rough waters
“What they do immediately is try to calm that person down because they can easily panic and grab one of these members and get them pulled under. So we try to get that floatation device to them, get them calmed down,” said Mark Nugent, Division Chief Midway Fire Rescue.
“Rip currents that’s the number one reason we come down here. That, and people not watching small children,” said Chief Nugent.
Because of that, Reid Geyer is not letting his son Caleb out of sight.
“We’ve seen some kids that are playing by themselves without anyone to watch them and we’ve seen plenty others that are using the buddy system to watch their kids,” said Geyer.
Midway Fire Rescue has three stations and is responsible for 21 miles of oceanfront and more than 20 miles of the Waccamaw River. They want to remind beachgoers it’s critical to know your location.
“The beach accesses are marked. Look at the street you’re on, look at the cross street against that and have that information because what we want to do is get here as quick as we can,” said Chief Nugent.
