The Quitman Volunteer Fire Department recently elected a new chief and assistant chief to lead the department: James Grantham and David Bonner.
The former chief, Mickey Long, has been in the department for many years and has been assisting in making the department the best it could be since he joined. He’s been able to witness the department changing over time.
“I’ve been a member of the fire department for 47 years,” remembered Mickey. “When I joined the fire department, Archie Duke was chief, and I was the assistant chief for a long time. While Archie was chief, we had already started working on getting our rating down to a seven, which we did. That was a very hard thing for us to do back then because we didn’t have the resources that we do now.”
He has been the chief for over 30 years now and made some goals that he wanted to reach. Now that those goals have been met, he decided that it was time to step down as chief and allow someone else to step into the position.
“I started 19 months ago working on getting our fire rating down to a six, which is an accomplishment for a volunteer fire department. We were able to do that. We actually made the grade and became rated as a six on December 16,” proclaimed Mickey. “I had already told everyone that before I stepped away as chief that I wanted to see us go to a six. I’m 66 years old. We have a new fire truck coming. We dropped down to a six. I want to step down and step away in good standing and on a good note.”
Although he is no longer chief, Mickey intends to stay in the department to help out any way he can. He is confident in the new leaders for the department and is excited to see them continue on the department’s success.
“The new chief and assistant chief have everything they need in order to keep us at a six, and I’ve already told the new chief that if there’s anything I can do to help that I would help in any situation. I think they’ll do a good job. It was a department decision. We voted on who would be chief and assistant chief and chose James Grantham and David Bonner,” stated Mickey. “I believe they will do a good job; it’s a learning process. They may make mistakes, but we all make mistakes. The deal is just to learn from those mistakes and not make them again. I’m not going to step in front of them; if they call me, I’ll be there. Everybody just needs to bear with them and not judge them because they’re good men and are dedicated and will do a good job. I’ll be there to support them in every way I can.”
James Grantham feels blessed that the department chose to elect him as the new chief and has already embraced his new role. He has already had some experience in a leadership position in the department and has experienced a smooth transition to his new role.
“I’m honored that the members of the fire department decided to nominate and elect me as fire chief, and I’m going to try to live up to their expectations as best as I can. I have some big shoes to fill. It has been a relatively peaceful transition of power,” declared James. “I’ve already met with the mayor and talked to David Sharp, the fire coordinator. I’m going to meet with the city council at the next meeting they have. I was the assistant chief for about six years. I’m a paramedic, so I have plenty of experience going on emergency calls. There are some things I will have to learn now that I’m chief and having to deal with paperwork, budgets and all that.”
Other than the change in leadership, the department will only experience some small changes. They are also anticipating a new fire truck to arrive at some point in the upcoming months.
“As far as the day to day operations at the fire department go, nothing is going to change. We’re going to change some very minor stuff as far as the unit numbers the firefighters go by when they talk to dispatch on the radio. That’s pretty much the changes that will be made; as far as everyday operations, we’re still going to calls when we’re paged, whether it is medical trauma, medical wrecks, structural fires, or anything else we need to do. We’ll continue to do that,” informed James. “We have a new fire truck coming, but we were told it may be 12-18 months before we get the new fire truck in. It’ll be interesting to see what the time frame really is on that. Our Engine 2 is an ’85 model. As of right now, we’ll probably retire it when the new truck comes in and make the new truck our Engine 2. It’ll be a much needed addition to the fire department as far as equipment goes.”
David Bonner, the newly elected assistant chief, is excited about his new role in the department and the responsibilities he will now take on. He is highly qualified for the position as well and intends to use his experience to help the department.
“I’m excited folks have confidence in me to be the assistant chief. From what I’m told by Grantham, I’ll be in charge of the training, which is nice,” stated David. “I’ve had previous experience from working in Jackson on the ambulance. I’ve been around it a long time and got out of it for a while. I’m glad to be back in it and glad to be in a leadership position to help the fire department grow. Maybe we can get some more training that we haven’t had in a while and get a better knowledge of things so that everyone isn’t running around like a chicken with its head cut off when we go to something. We’ll be more of a unified unit in how we handle things.”
He has developed a plan to try and make sure that the department is prepared for anything that may happen.
“I’m going to try and host some type of training at least once a month. We have weekly meetings. At least once a month we should be doing something where we can learn because being volunteers, we don’t get to do it every day and can forget a lot of stuff,” continued David. “That’s my goal because we can get more comfortable with it, and to me when you’re comfortable with something it becomes more like second nature to do it.”
The new authorities are both entering their position with a plan, and they work well with each other. Chief James is confident that they will work well together and keep the department running smoothly.
“I’m really pleased with David Bonner as the assistant chief so far. We’re pretty much on the same page,” stated James. “My plans are that whatever I know, he’ll know, so that no matter who is on the scene, we’ll both already know what to do. There shouldn’t be any confusion on what needs to be done or what doesn’t need to be done.”
With a smooth transition of power, the Quitman Volunteer Fire Department looks forward to continue serving the citizens of Clarke County while maintaining the excellent status it has achieved over the years.
