The Fourth of July is always one of the busiest days of the summer, and the busiest holiday of the year, says Sgt.Phillip Cain with the Myrtle Beach Police Department's Beach Patrol Unit.
On any given day, the beach patrol officers' job requires everything from saving someone drowning in the ocean to making sure no one is drinking on the beach. Independence Day brings more calls for public intoxication, drinking on the beach (which is illegal), and shooting off fireworks.
"Today, we had a couple of heat exhaustions, people swallow too much water, couple of lost kids, things like that," Cain said.
Beach patrol added three additional units Wednesday night for the growing crowds.
"We try to be visible so people see you out here," he says.
Cain adds that the main issue they have with ordinance violations usually happens because people are from out of town and don't know what the laws are in Myrtle Beach.
"If you see any ordinance violations, you explain what the ordinances are, because a lot of people don't know or are not familiar with them. And of course we ask for voluntary compliance. If that doesn't happen, a citation is issued or a custodial arrest depending on what that situation may be," Cain says.
