Shrimp boat catches on fire near Cherry Grove Pier

Around 4 p.m. on Monday, October 6, units were dispatched to a reported boat fire off the coast of Cherry Grove in the ocean near the Cherry Grove Pier.

Due to this being an active incident in the ocean and not easily accessible, numerous agencies coordinated in the response and a Unified Command was established on the beach at Sea Mountain Highway in North Myrtle Beach.

First arriving fire personnel made visual contact from the shore to begin providing information for additional responding agencies.

Fire personnel from Rescue 1 partnered up with North Myrtle Beach Ocean Rescue staff to deploy two jet skis from the shore to make contact with the boat crew who had deployed a life raft. They were able to bring the crew back to shore all accounted for with no injuries.

Horry County Fire Rescue Boat 2 deployed from Little River as primary fire suppression and knocked down as much of the fire as they could until the boat sank. After conferring with Coast Guard, the remaining fuel was allowed to burn off to minimize environmental impacts.

North Myrtle Beach Police deployed a drone to get visual coverage of the scene as well as their boat, Marine 1, to provide support to HCFR Boat 2 as needed.

North Myrtle Beach Rescue Squad responded with a watercraft as well and stood by to provide further assistance as needed.

Assistance was also provided by TowBoat US and private boaters in the area.

US Coast Guard responded as well to coordinate and assist on site.

Excellent work by all emergency response and private sector agencies involved as open ocean incidents always present unique challenges.

Successful outcomes come with the partnerships and working relationships we all share together when faced with incidents such as these.