North Myrtle Beach looks to hire police officers, firefighters, seasonal employees to keep up with city growth

By Ruben Lowman

The city of North Myrtle Beach is looking to hire more first responders to keep up with growth and an unprecedented volume of service calls. The parks department is also getting a head start on hiring more seasonal employees before the summer. 

As the city has expanded in size in both population and land area, the strain on emergency services and law enforcement personnel has hit an all-time high.

According to the statistics from the department, firefighters with the city responded to just under 6,000 incidents last year, breaking the previous record set in 2020 by more than 1,000. This is a 26 percent increase over the last five years, and a whopping 52 percent increase from a decade ago. Additionally, 44 percent of the incidents overlapped, according to department data, meaning more than one call at any given time. 

In order to keep up with that growth in service calls, NMB Fire Rescue spokesman/fire inspector Jay Ortiz said that the department is looking to hire several new firefighters in order to get back to optimum levels of personnel to respond to emergencies in the city. He explained that the the current application process and the one NMBFR just completed is to fill their vacant positions. 

“We currently have seven vacancies to fill for the rank of firefighter,” Ortiz said. “These new hires will bring us back to full staffing levels. We have several candidates from our last testing process that are currently in our pre-employment screening procedures. Once the current firefighters in the hiring process are hired, we hope to hire a couple more out of our current testing process which closes in March 18.”

Ortiz said the city is specifically looking to fill the vacancies with experienced personnel during this hiring process, looking for firefighters/EMT’s that already have required certifications and training with a minimum of three years of firefighting experience. The salary for the position is $41,850.

As the city’s fire rescue team is more than just a fire department, Ortiz said that NMBFR does their best to try and maintain a family atmosphere. In keeping with that mentality, he said some of the most important qualities for their candidates to have are an appropriate mindset, good attitude, integrity, honesty, empathy and a core moral and ethical foundation that will fit with their current personnel and the city.

“Being a firefighter is a great honor and a candidate must realize the amount of trust that the general public places on our personnel. Our citizens are calling us for assistance on their worst days and they are allowing us into their homes, businesses, vehicles and other areas of their private lives,” Ortiz explained. 

“They do not hesitate to allow us into these areas of their lives as they know we are coming to help and can be trusted with their care. That carries a tremendous amount of responsibility and accountability with it. That is one of the reasons we are highly selective and conduct such an extensive background check on new hires.”

Ortiz said the department understands that not every potential hire will be perfect right off the bat and will need education, but a determined mindset is the key to success with NMBFR. 

“Skills can be taught and reinforced for someone to become a more proficient firefighter. We do not expect every new candidate to perform with 100% perfection on their first day on the job,” Ortiz said. 

“It takes time to better their skillset. It is the attitude and mindset that they perform those skills with that is harder to mold or change.”

As the city has continued to see more visitors to the area and more citizens making the city their home, Ortiz said they are constantly planning on how they can ensure the department  can grow to keep up with the new demands of the growth. 

“Our department has grown tremendously over the last 20 years,” Ortiz said. “Our calls for service have been steadily on the rise. Also, newer construction and building trends used in homes and vehicles continue to create additional challenges for our firefighters as they respond to and work to mitigate the emergency scene. This requires us to constantly reevaluate our department, which includes updating equipment, response vehicles and staffing needs. This requires a constant planning process.”

The city is planning to bring two new fire stations into service in the upcoming years, Stations 6 and 7, which will be located in parts of the city that are seeing much of the recent development. Ortiz said they are always reevaluating and planning for their future needs with anticipated growth, and right now their strategic planning addresses those stations additions. 

“One will be located in the area of the Sports Park Complex near Park Pointe. The other will be off of Water Tower Road near the new UPS processing facility. Both of these fire stations will be fully staffed which will increase our daily staffing for firefighters on duty,” Ortiz said. 

The city does not have a specific time table on when either of these fire stations will be completed, as Ortiz said it is extremely difficult at this time to acquire the type of building materials needed for these structures during the supply chain crises. 

In the more immediate future he said NMBFR officials are working with city leaders on plans for adding additional firefighters to their current force.

“These additional firefighters will help with the current growth of our city and our increased demands placed on our current personnel. To assist with our staffing needs we have applied once again for a SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) Grant. This is the same grant process that helped us add additional staffing in 2008 and once again in 2020,” Ortiz explained.

North Myrtle Beach is also seeking to hire lifeguards and beach patrol officers, along with conventional police officers. 

LCpl. Monty Reed, NMB Beach Patrol, said that their main focus on recruiting has been at high schools and universities, with the goal to hire individuals who are motivated, coachable and very comfortable on the water. 

“A background in swimming, such as swim team or advanced swimming lessons is always a major plus,” Reed said in describing the qualities the patrol is looking for in applicants. “All of our staff members have to be able to swim 500 meters in 10 minutes or less and new lifeguards attend a training academy that is seven consecutive days.”

Last year NMB Beach Patrol had 123 water rescues, 226 missing persons (all were reunited), took 27,855 preventative actions, and assisted with 2,426 medical incidents, according to city data. 

With such a high volume, new guards learn a number of skills when they are hired, said Reed, including CPR, advanced first aid, spinal injury management, beach topography and rip current awareness. He said that returning guards participate in a recertification each season before they start work on the beach. 

Reed said that the patrol also conducts in-service/PT training three days a week throughout the summer season to keep each members’ skills sharp, conduct team drills and to keep in shape.   

“As our area population grows, so does beach attendance,” Reed said. “We will continue to recruit and hire as many qualified applicants as possible.”

Optimal staffing would be near 115 lifeguards, Reed said, and last year they had less than 80 staff members. 

He said in order to get closer to full staff and recruit more people, they have also increased their pay two years in a row. Starting pay for lifeguards is now at $15 an hour, an increase of $3 from 2020, with beach patrol and police officers earning a starting salary of $43,200.

Giving visitors and residents the security of feeling safe and know that they have someone there to help them if they get in trouble is important for the city’s first responders, said Reed. 

“The ocean is a completely uncontrollable environment and our staff members are there to help when trouble arises,” Reed said. 

For John Bullard, NMB Parks and Recreation Director, the past two years have not been ideal in terms of how many employees he has at  the city’s facilities. 

“As you are aware it has been very difficult to hire and retain employees over the last two  years.  Last summer we really struggled to hire adequate numbers of seasonal staff especially for beach services,” Bullard explained. 

“We normally hire around 80 box workers for chair and umbrella rentals, 20 for Italian Ice carts, and eight supervisors. Last season we did not operate the Italian Ice carts due to labor shortage. At times we had fewer than 20 people on the beach to operate 40 boxes.”

One thing the parks and recreation department did to retain and recruit last year they they will be continuing was raise all of their seasonal and part time employees and pay rates to align closer with what other local businesses were paying, Bullard said.

“Our rate for this summer will be: box workers/Italian Ice workers – $12 per hour entry level to a high of $14 per hour and supervisors $16 to $18,” Bullard explained. 

“Beach Patrol will be looking to hire about 100 ocean lifeguards at a rate of $15-$17 and six to eight supervisors from $17-$19 per hour. We also raised special event workers, athletic attendants and concession workers to $12 to $14 per hour.”

Bullard said the positions most needed would be the box workers and lifeguard positions. 

“We carry over a few of these positions to assist with the set up and operation of the Great Christmas Light Show,” Bullard said.

City officials were all in agreement that department heads do a good job of requesting additional positions when they are needed and commended management, the mayor and council for being very supportive of realistic requests for additional staffing.