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State Foresty Commission issues report on North Myrtle Beach wildfire
Mar 09, 2010 (The Sun News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
The state forestry agency's performance during Horry County's devastating Highway 31 wildfire last year shows a need for improved communications with other emergency response agencies, annual exercises to improve coordination with other agencies and improved communication with the public, according to a report released Monday by the S.C. Forestry Commission.
Meanwhile, cuts to the Forestry Commission budget mean the state is more at risk in case of a similar fire this year, Scott Hawkins of the commission said in a release that accompanied the report.
The After Action Report on the fire -- the most destructive in state history -- includes information from internal reviews and discussions among S.C. Forestry Commission fire staff and representatives from cooperating agencies.
The April fire burned more than 19,000 acres, destroyed 76 houses, damaged 97 additional homes and caused more than $25 million in damage. North Myrtle Beach's Barefoot Resort community was hit hardest by the fire.
The Forestry Commission has worked since then with North Myrtle Beach firefighters in wildlands fire training, Hawkins said.
One of the most basic problems during the fire was that Forestry Commission radios worked on one frequency while North Myrtle Beach radios worked on another. Hawkins said the commission is looking into different radio technology to forestall such problems in the future.
"We're working to get the frequencies worked out so we can be on the same page," Hawkins said.
North Myrtle Beach Fire Chief Tom Barstow said the city also is planning in a couple of years to install a water tower in the area and allow the Forestry Commission to put an antenna on top of the water tower for radio communication purposes.
Logistical problems dominated the report. Officials were forced to wait for meetings and information because a high-speed copy machine could not be found, the report said, and a difference in shift lengths between state and local responders led to miscommunications about who was working when.
In an effort to plan for the next fire, North Myrtle Beach has requested a federal grant to build a fire station on Watertower Road, which would serve as a joint training center and staging area, Barstow said.
He said city fire personnel are taking two courses through the Forestry Commission on fighting wildfires -- one is computer-based, the other is a practical test in a forest setting to fight a fire.
"We're working hand-in-hand with the Forestry Commission to improve our abilities and to be able to assist them," Barstow said. "We never had to work with the commission in the past because we never had an incident that affected us like that. It's a hard lesson to learn."
In addition to an improved working relationship, the commission is looking to conduct more tabletop exercises -- exercises before an actual fire -- in order to be ready to communicate with all agencies in the event of a fire, Hawkins said.
Several local, state and federal agencies participated in a similar exercise last week in Horry County as part of a four-day public safety exercise.
Such an exercise is one of the key elements to help foster that communication, said Randy Webster, Horry County's emergency management director.
Webster said that in the event of a fire, agencies would use traffic management and evacuation methods that were practiced in the training. The public safety exercise was intended to better coordinate efforts in the event of emergencies or natural disasters, he said.
The county's Emergency Management Division plans to work with the Horry County Fire Department on lessons learned as the area moves into wildfire season, Webster said.
"Anything we can do to facilitate that communication and coordination," he said.
Meanwhile, the Forestry Commission faces a $2.1 million cut in this fiscal year's budget, which would leave the agency with a $9.9 million operating budget compared to a $18 million budget the agency used to work with, Hawkins said. The agency also saw a 33 percent decline in its fiscal year 2008-2009 budget.
"It starts to affect your ability to respond to large events with wildfires," Hawkins said. "It affects your ability to replace equipment, and to retain and recruit qualified wildfire staff. We're no longer able to replace equipment on a 15-year cycle."
Hawkins said last fiscal year's budget cut had no effect on what it was able to do in its response to the wildfire, as the agency was still operating at full capacity at that time.
"But we had to pull resources from other states, which put you at a risk in other areas when you have all the resources in Horry County," Hawkins said.
This year, he said, the agency would be able to handle a moderate fire season, but would be at risk for anything beyond that.
Contact JANELLE FROST at 443-2404.
To see more of The Sun News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
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