Myrtle Beach Fire Rescue started beach patrols on Friday, but, unlike last year, Myrtle Beach police officers will not join them on the beach to immediately respond to ocean rescues or first aid calls. 
 
Last year, the fire department had three, two-person beach patrol teams during the summer. Now that the fire department will be the first to respond to all non-criminal calls on the beach, it will place more personnel on the beach.
 
Two Myrtle Beach Police officers used to help patrol the beach and respond to various non-criminal calls, including ocean rescues and missing children. After Myrtle Beach Police Chief Amy Prock proposed the officers be removed from the beach in order to focus on law enforcement, they will no longer do so.
 
“This year with us being the primary rescue, we’re going to have four beach patrols during peak times. We’ll have those extra bodies on the beach at those times,” said Myrtle Beach Fire Rescue spokesperson Lt. Jonathan Evans. 
 
Myrtle Beach Fire Rescue will add an extra beach patrol team  during the late spring and summer, which means two more first responders patrolling the beach. Evans said adding more personnel, will allow first responders to focus on monitoring smaller stretches of the beach. 
 

“We’ll have about three miles per patrol of beach to cover, as opposed to 4 or 5. So that’s going to help us if we do have responses it’s not as far to drive, especially during those high tides when it’s more difficult to get around,” he said.

According to Lt. Evans, the change will not affect staffing or day-to-day operations for the fire department since all beach patrol shifts are overtime. The extra overtime will cost the department $67,000.

“It doesn’t change anything day to day on shift. We have our minimum manning we have to keep. We will have a recruit school finishing up on May 4. When they come online, that’ll give us extra fire personnel as well,” Evans said.

Lt. Evans said the former beach patrol officers will patrol Ocean Boulevard instead, but will be ready to support the fire department on the beach if needed.

“They’ll always be there to back us up and if need them. They still have individuals who are trained. If we have an incident we’re going to call them in,” he said.

According to Evans, there will be two to three beach patrol teams on duty until the end of March. The fire department will then add another patrol team to the beach in April. They will patrol the beach from 9 AM to 9 PM.