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6 September 2024
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Fire stations of the world: Horry County Fire Rescue celebrates grand opening of Station 4 in Forestbrook, US
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Horry County Fire Rescue celebrated a new addition to its emergency service infrastructure in May 2024 during a grand opening ceremony for the new Station 4 in Forestbrook. The new station at 120 Burcale Road cost $5.35 million to build and took about two years to finish. The new Station Four is located in the Forestbrook community on Burcales Road, just down the road from their old location.
The new facility replaces the previous Forestbrook station, which was built in 1980 and did not have the space to expand and handle the growth the area has seen. Officials said the new fire station is a direct response to the area’s growth, emphasizing that as more people move to Horry County, there’s a higher need for enhanced public safety.
The entire building is hurricane-rated, meaning it can withstand 180 miles per hour winds.
This station also has the county’s first fire bus/multi-patient unit. It’s essentially a large ambulance that can carry up to 11 people. The bus was given to HCFR by Coast RTA and then refurbished into an ambulance for multi-patient incidents, allows triage and transportation for up to 11 patients. Officials said the bus is a great addition as the chances of an incident happening with multiple injuries has increased.
“Horry County is a growing county, the biggest and largest and fastest growing, and the best in the United States, so what are we doing? We’re growing to accommodate that and keep people safer,” Horry County Council Chairman Johnny Gardner said.
“This is one of the biggest volume by call that we have in Horry County,” Horry County Council Chairman Johnny Gardner said. “So, what did we do? We worked we got more people, we got a better facility and we’re growing to accommodate that and to keep people safer.”
HCFR spokesperson Tony Casey said he expects 2024 to be another record year for call volume. “Last I checked, we were at least 1 400 calls higher than we were at this point last year, which was a record year,” Casey said. “So there’s no doubt that we’re going to run a record year, again this year.”
Officials said crews are able to serve the people of Horry County more efficiently and effectively because there are more volunteers, career personal and large pull-through bays at the new station. “It wasn’t it seems like not that long ago, there was a handful of us,” said Randy Webster, Horry County’s assistant administrator of public safety. Now there’s a couple of handfuls of us.”
Officials said the central location of the facility will enhance response times. “They run a lot of calls out of here,” Casey said. “So having that quick access to [Highway] 501 or into Myrtle Beach or even to [Highway] 544, they’re gonna run even more here because of this access point.”
Officials managed to overcome COVID-19-pandemic-induced budget constraints and successfully opened the new station without raising taxes.
Horry County Council member Danny Hardee said before the pandemic, the cost of fire engines was $400 000 to $500 000. Now, they cost almost $1 million per engine. He said the cost of building new fire stations has also increased from $3 million to now more than $5 million dollars.
“When we’re faced with something, either protect the people and take care of them or not well, Chief [Joseph] Tanner and his staff, worked hard and worked with the county staff and they worked hard, and we got all this accomplished and now there’s no tax increase,” Hardee said.
Sources: Horry County Fire Rescue, WMBF News, News 13
The new facility replaces the previous Forestbrook station, which was built in 1980 and did not have the space to expand and handle the growth the area has seen. Officials said the new fire station is a direct response to the area’s growth, emphasizing that as more people move to Horry County, there’s a higher need for enhanced public safety.
The entire building is hurricane-rated, meaning it can withstand 180 miles per hour winds.
This station also has the county’s first fire bus/multi-patient unit. It’s essentially a large ambulance that can carry up to 11 people. The bus was given to HCFR by Coast RTA and then refurbished into an ambulance for multi-patient incidents, allows triage and transportation for up to 11 patients. Officials said the bus is a great addition as the chances of an incident happening with multiple injuries has increased.
“Horry County is a growing county, the biggest and largest and fastest growing, and the best in the United States, so what are we doing? We’re growing to accommodate that and keep people safer,” Horry County Council Chairman Johnny Gardner said.
“This is one of the biggest volume by call that we have in Horry County,” Horry County Council Chairman Johnny Gardner said. “So, what did we do? We worked we got more people, we got a better facility and we’re growing to accommodate that and to keep people safer.”
HCFR spokesperson Tony Casey said he expects 2024 to be another record year for call volume. “Last I checked, we were at least 1 400 calls higher than we were at this point last year, which was a record year,” Casey said. “So there’s no doubt that we’re going to run a record year, again this year.”
Officials said crews are able to serve the people of Horry County more efficiently and effectively because there are more volunteers, career personal and large pull-through bays at the new station. “It wasn’t it seems like not that long ago, there was a handful of us,” said Randy Webster, Horry County’s assistant administrator of public safety. Now there’s a couple of handfuls of us.”
Officials said the central location of the facility will enhance response times. “They run a lot of calls out of here,” Casey said. “So having that quick access to [Highway] 501 or into Myrtle Beach or even to [Highway] 544, they’re gonna run even more here because of this access point.”
Officials managed to overcome COVID-19-pandemic-induced budget constraints and successfully opened the new station without raising taxes.
Horry County Council member Danny Hardee said before the pandemic, the cost of fire engines was $400 000 to $500 000. Now, they cost almost $1 million per engine. He said the cost of building new fire stations has also increased from $3 million to now more than $5 million dollars.
“When we’re faced with something, either protect the people and take care of them or not well, Chief [Joseph] Tanner and his staff, worked hard and worked with the county staff and they worked hard, and we got all this accomplished and now there’s no tax increase,” Hardee said.
Sources: Horry County Fire Rescue, WMBF News, News 13
