Myrtle Beach Fire Department offering sand hole collapse training to Grand Strand crews

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — First responders across the Grand Strand are taking on a special training course focusing on rescuing people from sand hole collapses — a hidden threat than can turn deadly in seconds.

On Wednesday, crews from several agencies came together in Myrtle Beach for a hands-on drill, digging through sand to save a mannequin buried four feet deep, practicing exactly what they'd do in a real-life emergency.

The three-day training led by the city's fire department is part of a proactive push to improve beach safety. First responders worked in teams of up to 15, practicing rotation and widening the rescue perimeter to prevent collapse on other rescuers.

It took 15 minutes to locate the would-be victim, another two minutes to uncover the face and 20 minutes in total to complete the rescue.

With sand holding no air pockets, the work is both time sensitive and labor intensive.

Brian Mitchell, division chief of the fire department's ocean rescue division, said a city ordinance limits holes to being only two feet deep, but that can be hard to enforce — especially during off-season months when staffing is limited.

"We need to be ready to perform a sand collapse and be an all-hazards fire department," Mitchell said. "Once you get knee-deep in a hole, you don't need to keep digging because there is a great potential for that sand to collapse in."

While there have been no collapses locally, Mitchell said city crews addressed nearly 100 dangerous holes this past season.

"With this being our first time doing this as a department, we're feel more capable if this incident does happen," he said of the training. "We know how to react, what each crew is expected to do."

Officials say more sessions are planned, and they're evaluating the best equipment and storage locations to make sure rescuers can respond as quickly as possible.

"Moving forward, I feel beachgoers are safer after this training than they were before," Mitchell said.

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Savannah Denton joined News 13 in July 2023 as a reporter and producer. Savannah is from Atlanta, Georgia, and is a graduate of the University of Alabama. Follow Savannah on X, formerly Twitter, and read more of her work here .