Safety tips you should know before going on the beach
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — Thousands of visitors are expected to be on the Grand Strand for another summer season, but not everyone may know about some of the rules that are set in place.
That’s why Myrtle Beach has launched a new online initiative called “20 Days of Beach Safety.”
It offers safety tips and summer rules for locals and visitors that you may not have even realized – like how to keep your pets safe in the summer heat.
John Lively, a Myrtle Beach police officer, explains why these rules are in place.
“Those rules do help significantly, but there’s still always going to be people that whether they happen to step on a stingray or they happen to twist their ankle playing football on the beach, we always see injuries but having those rules in place definitely does make it a safer place for us,” he said.
One of the main rules that people should know is that alcohol is not allowed on the beach.
Lively says it is a city wide ordinance.
“Alcohol is prohibited on our beaches within city limits. That includes any alcoholic beverage. You also can’t have any glass containers whether they have alcohol in them or not,” he said.
They also have a new ordinance that will be put into place from Memorial Day through Labor Day regulating the use of umbrellas to 7.5 feet in diameter.
They only exception is infant tents no larger than four feet wide.
“The reason behind the umbrella ordinance is so that we can see underneath them for water safety to see if there’s anybody in distress out there, but it’s also very easy for us to take an umbrella, take it straight up out of the ground in order to give us an emergency access to drive down to the water’s edge,” Lively said. “You can image a 12-foot canopy’s a little bit harder to maneuver in a situation such as water rescue.”
May 1 through Labor Day is the season ordinance for any animals on the beach They’re barred from 10 a.m to 5 p.m.
“It could blister their paws, they could also end up getting a little over heated if their owner doesn’t have any water out there for them. Even if they do sometimes the heat index on the beach in the middle of the summer is 120 or 130 degrees, so it’s not fair to the animals,” Lively said.
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Hannah Huffstickler is a multimedia journalist at News13. She joined the News13 team in January 2024 after graduating from Coastal Carolina University in December of 2023. Keep up with Hannah on Facebook and Instagram. You can also read more of her work here.
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