In a phone call recorded on a dashboard camera on April 23rd, 2009, between North Myrtle Beach police Sgt. Jeff Senter and another person, Senter blames some of North Myrtle Beach's leaders for doing a poor job of handling the fire.
From tapes News 13 and scnow.com obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, Sgt. Senter can be heard criticizing North Myrtle Beach Mayor Marilyn Hatley and Public Safety Director William Bailey for how they handled the evacuation of Barefoot Resort during the April wildfires.
"Well thing, the thing they should've done, they should've put down voluntary evacuations. In other words, they, they just didn't prepare good enough. That's her job. You know, i know they didn't know it was going to move that fast but the thing is you got half the houses burned down and people lined up, you're responsible. That's your job. You're the mayor. Of course, the sh--'s gonna go down hill why, you know, all these people weren't here to start off with," said Senter, on the tape.
The tape was recorded on the dashboard camera of Senter’s patrol car and is dated April 23rd, 2009.
Senter directly says that they knew the fire was coming, contradicting previous statements aired on News 13 by Bailey and Hatley who said they did not know which direction the fire was headed before it jumped into Barefoot.
On the tape, Senter can be heard saying, "It puts them in their place. They're always criticizing...They knew that fire was coming and they got, they got caught with their pants down. And, they're gonna have to answer. You're gonna hear a lot more of that sh-t."
It’s the first time a public safety official also directly states that Hatley and Bailey knew the fire was coming towards barefoot.
Hatley disagrees with Senter when he refers to her and Bailey and says “they knew the fire was coming.”
Hatley told News 13, "It would make no sense for me, or anyone else as far as the director of public safety or the city manager, or anyone else in this town, to withold that type of information."
When News 13 asked Hatley if she is alleging that Senter lied on the tape, Hatley replied, “yes.”
News 13 tried to reach Sergeant Senter to find out how he feels about Mayor Hatley saying he lied on the tapes during the morning of the wildfire. Senter did not return the call.
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