While no one was badly injured in the fires, questions continue to be raised about how the City of North Myrtle Beach responded to residents in the Barefoot Resort community during the April wildfires.
Last week, News 13 first showed videos of embers flying into Barefoot around 12:46 a.m. on April 23rd, more than an hour before public safety officials began evacuating residents.
Some Barefoot residents say the fire consumed their homes shortly after the embers hit and before public safety notified them that they were in danger.
"Right, that's my concern. I'm thinking it was here in Barefoot in our section of Barefoot at least 45 minutes to an hour before they're talking about the fire jumping into Barefoot," said Art Chartier, whose home was completely destroyed in the wildfire.
City officials, including Mayor Marilyn Hatley and Director of Public Safety William Bailey, say public safety officers began evacuating residents around 1:50 a.m. after the fire jumped into Barefoot.
A radio transmission communication recording News 13 obtained from the city shows city officials were aware of the embers.
While it's unclear what time that conversation was made, Chartier seems certain about when the fire reached his house.
"I got out of bed and the alarm clock was right there and I always check the alarm clock when I get out of bed and it said 1:15 as best I can recall and then I went out,” said Chartier.
Once Chartier darted out of his bedroom, he headed out the back door and looked into his backyard where he saw a wall of fire right up along a fence.
The fire had already consumed bushes and grass in his backyard, and later, destroyed his home.
Sylvester Nicholson lives on Whistling Duck Drive, two blocks away from Chartier, further from where the fire first crossed into Barefoot.
Nicholson says the fire reached his home around 1:40 a.m.
News 13 is continuing to go through the transmission audio tapes to figure out when exactly city officials first knew the embers were in Barefoot and when people first began calling 9-1-1 reporting the fire had reached their homes.
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