Junk Removal in Myrtle Beach, SC

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) - The Myrtle Beach Fire Department is getting ready to train the next batch of first responders through its new Junior Firefighter Program.

The program is for high school students ages 16 to 18 interested in the fire service and will teach them what the career is all about.

They will get hands-on experience with the fire department which includes training at the academy, going on ride-alongs and helping with community education events.

Captain Jon Evans with the Myrtle Beach Fire Department said even students interested in other areas like the Water Rescue Team or EMS side of the career can take something home from the program.

Evans said the Junior Fire Fighter Program is a great opportunity for students to figure out if the fire service is a career they would like to get into.

“Folks like myself who came out of high school and kinda went the college route but wasn’t for me. This may have been a program that could’ve serviced me when I was in high school and I could’ve gotten started a little earlier than I did,” said Evans.

The new program not only aims to give students hands-on experience but is also a way to get more Grand Strand natives to call the fire station home.

Evans said the fire department gets job applications from people all over the country but only a few from people here in the Grand Strand.

This program also hopes to fill the hole of a similar junior firefighter program offered at Horry County’s Academy for Technology and Academics but is no longer running.

Evans said he can’t wait to train up the next batch of passionate students.

“I had one kid who ran across the cafeteria. She was so excited to see me there because she wanted to start the program. She wanted to go to the ATA program and it just wasn’t there anymore and she was so excited to see us there. So to foster that fire as it was, that’s what I’m most excited for,” said Evans.

Evans said they hope the students will want to later join the department helping to keep you safe here in Myrtle Beach.

So far, Evans said 18 students have signed up for the new program and there’s only room for a few more.

The deadline to sign up is Friday, January 6.

Copyright 2023 WMBF. All rights reserved.

Whether you stay up to ring in 2023 or wake up early to see the first sunrise of the year, start 2023 with a delicious breakfast or brunch.

Since New Year’s Day falls on a Sunday this year, you have more reasons to celebrate with brunch.

Ensure good luck throughout the year by eating black eyed peas, collard greens, pork, and cornbread on New Year’s Day.

Check out these five Myrtle Beach-area restaurants offering traditional southern dishes and new favorites.

New Year’s Day hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Address: 7651 N. Kings Hwy, Myrtle Beach

843-839-4677

Get fortune on your side with a Good Luck Plate from Liberty Tap Room and Grill. This New Year’s Day special includes fried pork chops, collard greens, black eyed peas, and cornbread, for $14.95.

New Year’s Day hours: 10:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. and 3 to 9 p.m.

Address: 1536 S Waccamaw Drive, Murrells Inlet

843-651-8808

Jump into 2023 with Hoppin’ John and prime ribs from Gulfstream Cafe in Murrells Inlet. In addition to southern New Year’s specials, their buffet includes seafood favorites, like fried cod and mussels with creamy garlic linguine. The brunch buffet costs $19.95 for adults and $9.95 for kids 10 and under.

New Year’s Day hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Address: 1202 Celebrity Circle, Myrtle Beach

843-945-1072

If you’re hungry after a long night of celebration, check out Paula Deen’s Family Kitchen in Broadway at the Beach. At this all-you-can-eat restaurant, you can assemble your own New Year’s meal. Choose four sides, including collard greens or cornbread, and two entrees, including spare ribs and jambalaya.

New Year’s Day hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Address: 3042 Howard Ave., Myrtle Beach

843-315-3780

Keep the champagne flowing into New Year’s Day with a mimosa from Tupelo Honey Cafe in Market Common. Enjoy a classic orange juice and champagne cocktail or get creative with a blueberry-lavender and pineapple-peach mimosa. Pair it with southern dishes like chicken and waffles or shrimp and grits.

New Year’s Day hours: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Address: 980 Cipriana Drive, Unit A-6, Myrtle Beach

(843) 879-4758

This New Year, try new flavors. You can start your culinary adventure at Drift. The restaurant incorporates unique meats and seafood in their dishes, like duck benedict for breakfast and Spanish-style grilled octopus. Brunch isn’t complete without coffee, so try a s’mores or sea caramel flavored cold brew.

For the nine years Richard Shaffer has lived in Market Common, he’s enjoyed watching eagles flit across treetops behind his home.

So has neighbor Bonnie Fahey — the birds of prey cutting across the sky a gentle reminder that parts of Myrtle Beach’s lavish planned community built atop an old Air Force base is a development.

Shaffer and Fahey live in The Reserve, a high-end enclave of 100 homes between $280,000 and $500,000 less than a mile from the Myrtle Beach International Airport and Coastal Grand Mall.

But change is coming quickly to still raw land that abuts anchor stores including Barnes & Noble — up to 206 homes with a clubhouse and swimming pool, according to a concept called MarketWalk made public at a Jan. 3 city planning commission meeting.

The privately run development would blend 94 townhomes with 107 cottage-style properties all running on leases with terms of at least 12 months.

MarketWalk carves out 440 more parking spots as well near at the intersection of Farrow Parkway and Phillis Boulevard. City planners said they want more information on how that much more year-round activity will affect traffic flow and access for public safety crews.

“It’s going to be developed one way or the other, so for me it’s important we come up for the best use of the site,” commissioner Aaron Guyton said.

In 2017, the Market Common master plan was amended to allow the construction of a five-story, 100-room hotel and more homes at the corner of Farrow Parkway and Phillis Boulevard.

While the hotel concept never took off, residents at the time worried about environmental impacts, increased congestion and public safety constraints that would come with more construction — and those complaints surfaced again this week.

“This has the potential to end up being a disaster to the people that move in here, so I would encourage you to look at other alternatives,” resident Bill McClure said.

Walter Warren, a principal at Thomas & Hutton Engineering, said the homes would be occupied through annual lease agreements with competitive price points.

“It is a very in-demand housing type for working class: Educators, first responders,” Warren said as examples of the project’s target demographic.

The City Council will have the final say over any major changes to Market Common’s footprint. Still, the planning board that serves as its advisory panel said a lot more information is needed before it can make a recommendation.

MarketWalk’s boundaries are close to the site of a large data center being built by DC BLOX.

Officials asked engineering firm Thomas & Hutton for traffic studies, potential environmental impacts and possible road adjustments which could be brought to them next month.

“It shouldn’t be painful to live in your neighborhood,” commission chairman Joyce Karetas said. “I think you heard from people in slightly different neighborhoods, and that is representative of the people who are going to live with the consequences, so we need as many answers as we can get.”

The MarketWalk project isn’t the only new housing planned for Market Common.

Last month, the city’s community appearance board delayed approval for 26 apartments split across four barracks-style buildings at the intersection of Meyers Avenue and Pampas Drive.

At 600 square feet each, those units would help fill the city’s need for more affordable housing.

The MarketWalk venture wouldn’t include subsidized living — a key factor for some commissioners.

“A year (lease agreement) definitely helps construct a stronger neighborhood than in and out,” Karetas said.

Duke Energy Corp. executives on Tuesday blamed a convergence of widespread extreme cold, higher than projected demand, malfunctioning plant equipment and the inability to buy power elsewhere for rolling blackouts on Christmas Eve — the first for the company in the Carolinas.

Addressing state electric regulators, company leaders apologized because about 500,000 customers, or 11%, of its Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress subsidiary customers — were subjected to the designed temporary outages, often with little notice. While power was restored to everyone before the sun went down Dec. 24, morning temperatures fell into the single digits and afternoon highs failed to reach freezing in many areas.

“I want to express how sorry we are for what our customers experienced,” Duke Energy Carolinas CEO Julie Janson told the North Carolina Utilities Commission at a briefing. “We own what happened. We have set out on a path to ensure that if we’re faced with similar challenges, we will see a different outcome and provide a better customer experience."

The outages came a day after 300,000 customers lost power amid plummeting temperatures and high winds that knocked down lines as a monster winter storm approached the East Coast. Restoration was nearly complete by that evening. At that time, the two subsidiaries for the Charlotte-based utility still projected having enough energy production reserves to meet peak demand the next morning, said Sam Holeman, a transmission system vice president.

But power generation at three North Carolina plants — coal-fired Mayo and Roxboro and natural gas-powered Dan River — were essentially cut in half early Dec. 24 when insulated instrumentation lines froze, Duke executives said. Meanwhile, already contracted purchases of electric power on a regional transmission system didn't happen because neighboring utilities had no supplies to share.

Faced with the threat of uncontrolled demand outpacing supplies and leading to widespread outages within the Eastern U.S., Holeman said the two subsidiaries began “load-shedding” events — rolling outages — beginning shortly after 6 a.m.

"We will strive to lower the probability that this type of event happens again, but if we have similar conditions in similar operating environments in the future, our operators will take the same actions” he said.

The rolling outages are supposed to be automated and last only 15 to 30 minutes. But the automation tools didn't work as anticipated, according to a presentation, forcing the utility's distribution control center to shut down hundreds of circuits manually. All of the circuits were restored by around 4 p.m.

Duke executives said communicating this event to customers fell short, especially as it became clear that rolling outages would extend beyond 30 or even 60 minutes.

“We’re committed to developing a much better understanding of these events and what we can do to avoid rolling service disruptions and improve communications in the future,” Duke Energy State President Kendal Bowman said.

The seven-member commission, nominated by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, asked many questions and sought more information but largely avoided blame for what happened. Cooper tweeted last week that he was “deeply concerned” about people who didn't get notice about the rolling outages and asked Duke “for a complete report on what went wrong and for changes to be made.” The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is also looking into what happened.

State utilities Commissioner Floyd McKissick said Duke's customer notification system needs to be upgraded as soon as possible so people who could be harmed by the loss of power — such as the elderly or those with medical needs — can be prepared.

“The only thing customers want to know is that power is there when it’s needed,” he said.

McKissick also cited the utility's power demand modeling, which Duke executives acknowledged was based on data from past weather events that didn't account for the unique confluence of circumstances last month. They included what Holeman called the lowest December temperatures since the 1980s, low dew temperatures and wind chills, all during a holiday weekend.

The briefing came just four days after the commission issued a separate order detailing actions that Duke Energy must or should take to meet a new legislative mandate to reduce carbon dioxide emissions 70% by 2030 compared with 2005 levels.

The rolling outages happened as a massive freeze in the eastern U.S. caused outages and led the regional transmission operation of which North Carolina is a member to urge states to conserve electricity through Christmas morning. The Tennessee Valley Authority also directed local power companies to implement planned interruptions.

A new Myrtle Beach oceanfront hotel resort from Holiday Inn Club Vacations Incorporated will be completed in 2024.

The company purchased 16 acres of undeveloped property across from Holiday Inn Club Vacations South Beach Resort.

The oceanfront hotel will be located on the Owners Club Court near Damon’s Restaurant and Crown Reef Beach Resort and Waterpark.

“We’ve experienced first-hand how much families love Myrtle Beach, as our South Beach Resort has been one of the most popular properties in the network for more than 10 years. Our team’s familiarity with the destination, coupled with the creative freedom of building from the ground up, means we have a great opportunity to create a truly unique resort,” said Tom Nelson, Chief Executive Officer at Holiday Inn Club Vacations Incorporated, in a news release. “This year marks the 40th anniversary of our Company. When I reflect on our history and growth over the last 40 years, I can’t think of a more fitting way to celebrate this milestone than by expanding our network, once again, to bring more memorable vacation experiences to our owners and guests.”

According to a news release, once the first phase of development is complete, the new resort will feature 152 one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom villas, ranging in size from 746 to nearly 1,900 square feet. All villas will include patios and offer ocean views. A portion of the villas will be designated for Signature Collection, the Company’s luxury product.

SOUTH BEACH LOCATION NEAR MARKET COMMON

The Myrtle Beach resort will be located just minutes walking distance from Myrtle Beach’s Market Common.

A FOCUS ON NEW DEVELOPMENT

Myrtle Beach Mayor Brenda Bethune told local news just this past week, “We have to have a great downtown. That’s vital for the future of this community. To bring younger people in, to bring business, and to bring the right people that we want to live, work and invest here.”

While the city’s main focus will be on the downtown areas of 7th and 8th Avenue North, the South Beach end welcomes a new property to what many have called a dated city area.

Needed Changes to Dated South End Façade Coming

While the City of Myrtle Beach expects the road changes downtown to take from 2 to 3 years, private companies are already beginning to buy into the Southend. The SandCastle Resort on 22nd was recently purchased by a California based company promising major upgrades to that property.

The Family Kingdom located in this area was also purchased last year by a highly reputable local attractions concern.

A very dated Sea Mist Resort is also on the market for sale for $55 million. The Sea Mist is one of the largest resorts in the area, as far as land mass is concerned.

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