27 Mar The South Carolina State Firefighters’ Association announces its new Executive Director Posted at 11:09h in Events, History, Members, Membership, Uncategorized by Joe Palmer 0 Comments 2 Likes The South Carolina State Firefighters’ Association is proud to announce the selection of M. Kyle Minick as its new Executive Director. Executive Director Minick comes to the Association from the City of North Charleston where he served as the Deputy Chief of Operations. Chief MinickRead More... Read More
18 Feb The Passing of Harry Girtman Posted at 19:57h in History, Members, Uncategorized by Joe Palmer 0 Comments 2 Likes We are sorry to inform you of the passing of a great friend and fire service icon, Harry Girtman. Harry was long a fixture of the Academy and of the Instructors Society, was irreplaceable, and certainly now will be missed. Shives Funeral Services of Columbia hasRead More... Read More
15 Dec The Lancaster Jail Fire of 1979 Posted at 08:06h in Heritage & History, History by Carter Jones 0 Comments 3 Likes By Carter Jones Special Projects Coordinator Nearly 40 years ago on December 27th the City of Lancaster, South Carolina experienced the tragic loss of eleven inmates who died in a rapidly spreading fire in its county jail. According to James R. Bell, a member of NFPA’s FireRead More... Read More
12 Oct State Association Donates to National Fire Heritage Center Posted at 13:56h in Heritage & History, History, Uncategorized by Carter Jones 0 Comments 0 Likes Carter Jones, Special Projects Coordinator, attended the Annual Board Meeting of the National Fire Heritage Center on October 9, in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Jones presented several items to the Heritage Center on behalf of the S. C. State Firefighters’ Association. (Pictured left to right) Frank Schmersal,Read More... Read More
26 Sep Contributions of African-Americans To South Carolina’s Fire Service Posted at 11:41h in History by Carter Jones 0 Comments 1 Like For the last several years, this writer has done a lot of reading about the history of South Carolina’s fire service, and I have tried to capture its relevance by putting to pen those stories from our past. While doing research for all of theseRead More... Read More
25 Jul Solving the “Mystery” of Two Associations Posted at 16:23h in Heritage & History, History by Carter Jones 0 Comments 0 Likes By: Carter Jones Special Projects Coordinator Soon after being employed by the Firefighters’ Association in 2014, this writer discovered at the State Archives a Petition of Incorporation for “The S. C. Volunteer Firemen’s Association”, dated June 6, 1898. It is petitioned by eleven (11) individuals, allRead More... Read More
04 Apr Old Joe of Newberry Posted at 08:09h in History by Carter Jones 0 Comments 0 Likes Probably one of the most famous fire horses in our state’s history was Old Joe of Newberry. In 1902, a freight train with livestock rolled into the town of Newberry, and in the car was a large Kentucky bay gelding standing “16 hands high andRead More... Read More
14 Feb The Life of W. Herbert Tanner…72 Years of “Active” Service Posted at 16:06h in History by Carter Jones 0 Comments 0 Likes By: Carter Jones Special Projects Coordinator January 16, 2017 Each day I am challenged and inspired by the stories of people from our past and even the present whose lives reveal uncommon sacrifice, commitment to service, bravery, and the silent spirit of servant leadership. In this writing IRead More... Read More
13 Jan Who Was Henry Johniken? Posted at 12:11h in History by Carter Jones 0 Comments 0 Likes A few months ago I wrote a story about the line of duty death of a young teenage fireman, Thomas Bramlett, from the City of Laurens which occurred back in 1889. This story would have been lost to time had it not been for theRead More... Read More
25 Aug A Tragedy Retold Posted at 12:51h in History by Carter Jones 0 Comments 2 Likes Out of the City of Laurens comes the sad account of a story that surely would have been lost to antiquity were it not for the recent resolve of that community’s firefighters. So, let’s go back in time to the beginning. Earliest mention of anRead More... Read More
