Barefoot resident helps uncover edited tapes that highlight wildfire evacuation
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Barefoot resident helps uncover edited tapes that...
New information obtained by a Barefoot resident, former private investigator Mike Ragusa, and News 13, shows how the evacuation of Barefoot residents was handled during the morning of the North Myrtle...New information obtained by a Barefoot resident, former private investigator Mike Ragusa, and News 13, shows how the evacuation of Barefoot residents was handled during the morning of the North Myrtle Beach wildfires on April 23.
Using the Freedom of Information Act, Ragusa and News 13 obtained North Myrtle Beach Public Safety dash cam videos and dispatch calls from that night.
The video shows the fire was first spotted after it flared up off of Highway 90 by North Myrtle Beach Police Lt. Guy Johnson at 12:56 a.m.
BY THE NUMBERS
Click here to listen to the calls recorded by 911 dispatch on April 23, as presented to the public.
Click here to go to listen to the raw audio of the calls.
Residents still being evacuated from Barefoot. Director Bailey says evacuation ended around 4 a.m..
Johnson said he learned through the South Carolina Forestry Commission that the fire was going to jump at 1:23 a.m. Johnson said he did not know when and where it would jump. But, because he was concerned, he called North Myrtle Beach Director of Public Safety William Bailey. Bailey said he was asleep when the call was made and cell phone service in his home in Little River was spotty, which he said is why he missed the call.
In the voicemail message, Johnson said, “Uh, William. Just giving you a shout. I know it’s late. But this thing is getting close to 22. I would probably say it’s probably less than a mile, a quarter of a mile from 22 and they’re saying it’s gonna to jump. I just gonna kinda keep you updated. I think they’re getting ready to close down 22 through here cause it’s getting that close. Um, and I’m getting concerned about Barefoot but, uh, we’ll keep an eye on it. I’ll try and keep you posted.”
Twenty-six minutes after Johnson left that voicemail message on Bailey’s phone, the fire exploded at 1:48 a.m. and crossed Highway 22 into Barefoot.
Johnson immediately called dispatchers, telling them to use the city’s reverse 911 system to call and order Barefoot residents to evacuate their homes. He also told the dispatcher to notify Bailey.
Bailey said dispatchers got in touch with him as he was on the move at 1:52 a.m.
But, an original version of dispatch calls shows Bailey may have talked to dispatchers later than that.
On the original dispatch tape, a conversation between Dispatcher Cory and Maj. Walt Floyd was cross referenced to other police communications made at 2:02 p.m. In that conversation, the dispatcher tells Floyd, “We can’t get a hold of Bailey.” That conversation is followed by the call from Dispatcher Cory to Bailey. The time of the call is unknown, but it comes after the call at 2:02 a.m. shown on the original tape.
At a public task force meeting held on May 22 in which residents could listen to dispatch calls and ask officials involved in the wildfire response questions, Bailey’s call to dispatchers was played before the call between dispatchers and Floyd. The phrase “We can’t get a hold of Bailey” was taken out of the call.
Bailey said he doesn’t know who edited the tapes and why they would edit the tapes. As of 4:30 p.m. on Monday, North Myrtle Beach Public Information Officer Nicole Aiello said the investigation into who edited the tapes is ongoing.
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Reader Reactions
I still get a panicky feeling remembering that night and getting four kids out by myself. It happened to be a night my husband was out of town. A house was on fire two blocks away, and ash was falling everywhere. When I listened to the news the next day and heard the safety director saying they evacuated everyone door to door, I believed they did a good job getting the neighborhood out. But when I talked to my friend who lived in the back of the neighborhood, where the fire destroyed all the houses around her, she said no policeman came down that street and she couldn’t see the road to get out it was so smokey. The neighbor people were honking horns and getting each other out themselves! And the safety director had the nerve to say the police did it and imply he was directing!!!! He was asleep when the fire was already burning houses! I lose sleep still, when I think about “What if I lived back there and my house was on fire while the safety executives slept through the most important hour of SC fire history?“ A few fire-trucks on Water Tower road before the fire jumped (and they KNEW it would) may have save most or all of the homes. But, no, our mayor doesn’t think 30 minutes could have made much difference. And the safety director lies to the national news that his force evacuated everyone when really he was asleep with a lame excuse for not being reached by the police and dispatch! Why did we elect such an incompetent mayor? And allow her to appoint such an incompetent safety director that lies to the public and doesn’t understand the importance of communication BEFORE the public’s safety becomes an emergency?
Ms Aleillo (interview on channel 10 at 11pm on June 15th) says the edited call was for informational purposes only and was not meant for the public.
What!!!! The call was edited in the MIDDLE not the beginning or end. If it was not meant for the public, then why play it out of order in a public meeting?
If it weren’t for the Freedom of Information Act and Mr Ragusa’s efforts, we would have never known about this ongoing cover-up because we would have never seen the UNEDITED recordings.
Other documented lies (by video and audio recordings) thus far:
Lie - We only had 4 minutes to react according to Mayor Hatley and William Bailey at the April 23rd news conference video the morning of the fire.
1. The dash-cam video and audio shows that officials were aware of the fire approaching at 12.58am 50 minutes before the FIRST homes (not the last) began to burn.
2. The tape shows that forestry department warns NMB officials before 1:22am that the fire is going to jump 22.
3.The tape shows that NMB officials
monitoring the fire began to contact NMB leadership at 1:22am 30 minutes before the first homes burned.
Lie: We (meaning safety officials) were responsible for evacuating all of Barefoot (April 23rd news conference).
1. Tapes clearly show that the emergency personnel couldn’t get to or were being advised not to evacuate the most effected areas of Barefoot. Residents in the most effected areas are seen evacuating themselves and tapes clearly show that there was absolutely no evacuation plan!
WOW!
Lets remember that out of all that happened over the time period of this fire, if this is the only discrepancy, thats not to bad. I agree that if someone tried to hide this, they should be delt with. But lets not blame everybody. from what I can tell there were 1000’s of police, firefighters and others out there battleing these fires (remember it was not just one fire). If a person is going to question anything, It should be,why does a state that is probably 80% forest and alot of this forest in hard to reach areas like swampland, not have Aerial Tanker Planes to drop water and fire retardents on the fire?
Editing a tape ... WOW!
North Myrtle Beach should be ashamed of itself for being so late in getting people evacuated.
This is what happens when you have people who could barely graduate high school in positions of authority!
Liz Gilland was sure quick to point the finger at the Forestry Commission.I bet she was sleeping during this fire.I have been a fire chief and currently have a brother that works for the forestry commision.He is from another county but yet he spent several nights working and risking his life to protect YOUR property and save YOUR residents.Remember forest fires require tractors that go into the front lines of the fire.To all the emergency personel You guys did one great job.
Wow! Very interesting development! I think there a few employees on the Police Dept side of NMB that have some answering to do! Including the Director! Please note that with the tapes, never did that first officer call dispatcher after his first attempt at Bailey. He should have, and given the on duty fire B/C and let him send someone out to assess the situation. It should all still come back that Forestry and HCFR should have also contacted NMB Dispatch directly also. But hindsight is 20-20!
I believe the police and firemen were all heroes in this situation. It was a major miracle no lives were lost. Their success was due to a large part to their dedication and being alert. No one could have predicted or known ahead of time which way the wind was going to take the fire. They are all to be commended on a job well done and we should all be very proud of them and to be a part of this community.
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