Spring breakers renting Garden City beach house escape fire unharmed

A morning beach house fire in Garden City ended a spring break vacation early for several girls who were stirred from their beds by the blaze after a bystander alerted them.

The group of Francis Marion University students escaped unharmed thanks to a passerby who warned them about the fire.

Smoke billowed from the home, located on the 300 block of South Waccamaw Drive near the Garden City pier, alerting a Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire Department fire crew who saw it on the horizon.

“At 7:30 this morning, one of our engines was returning from a call and noticed smoke on the horizon and called in dispatch, arrived on scene, and we had fire coming through the roof of the structure occupied by renters,” said Capt. Rodney Jewett, with MIGCFR. “A passerby had stopped and woke them up, notified them of the fire, so everybody got safely.”

The blaze was under control in about 20 minutes and fully extinguished in a little more than an hour, Jewett said. Though the roof suffered heavy damage, no one was hurt during the fire.

The multi-level beach house has separate apartments, and no one was staying in the upstairs unit when the fire ignited, Jewett said.

The cause remained under investigation Thursday.

This story was originally published March 16, 2017 at 10:13 PM with the headline "Spring breakers renting Garden City beach house escape fire unharmed."