North Myrtle Beach Fire Update

I have had several people write to check on me the past few days with the fires burning in North Myrtle Beach. The fires are still burning and as of this morning they say the fires are 85% contained. The 15% that is not contained is on the NE corner which unfortunately is the direction I live from the fires.

The house is about 7-8 miles from the fires so I would hope they get them contained before they reach my area. When I flew home on Friday I was on the wrong side of the airplane to see the fires. They had my typical route home closed off (Hwy 31) and I had to take the route right through town (Hwy 17). It’s slower but about the same distance. I didn’t see or smell any of the smoke.

Yesterday I was able to sit on the patio and work for a few hours. I did see a helicopter with the water bags under it flying down the waterway. I assume they were heading to the fires. This morning on the way to the airport the smoke was very heavy starting at Main Street in North Myrtle Beach for about 7-8 miles. Then it cleared up.

The local newspaper has some good maps and photos of the damage here. There are 70+ homes destroyed and another 30+ that are not structurally sound enough to live in.

http://www.thesunnews.com/

Maps of the fire with pictures and video can be found at:
http://www.thesunnews.com/news/local/story/872218.html

Some people have had problems getting to the Sun News website so I have included a map so you can see how close it is.