March 10, 2016 SFD Promotion Ceremony

[0:00:00] seats that have not been taken anybody would like to come up and sit down we got five seats on the front row all right good evening I want to tell you as I look around the room it's an awesome sight to see so many Smiles on so many faces welcome to the new South Haven fire department where you will see smiling faces every time you walk into a fire station where every time you come up on the second floor of administration I promise you we are a new Fire Department there's something I'd like to share with you tonight something I've read uh just a few weeks ago and it is many people spend their entire lives wondering if they have made a difference tonight as I look around this room I can tell you I don't think there's anybody in this room that's wondering any longer thank you I am Roger Thornton I'm the chief of the South Haven fire department and I'm very privileged to welcome our city leaders our provotees their families and friends and our co-workers to the first promotional ceremony of the South Haven fire department Tonight We Make History as we promote the longest largest group of firefighters to various ranks within our department we have been going through a very significant transition we've got a new chief new deputy chief and we are promoting 11 other people and honoring them tonight for their promotions the largest transition we have ever had in the 36 year history of our career Department so we appreciate you being here and being a part of this event there are some special guests that I would like to recognize tonight and this will take a few minutes but please bear with me because it is very important first I will recognize our bear muscle White

[0:02:03] one of our alderman Scott Ferguson are there any other ottoman present okay we greatly appreciate what you do for our department for without you we cannot do what we do next I would like to honor former fire chief Vernon McCammon and his wife Miss Pat would y'all stand up for just a moment yeah Vernon and Pat are like The Godfather and Godfather to the fire department Barna McCammon started as a volunteer in 1969. he served for 10 years as a volunteer and went through the rakes from the firefighter all the way up to the chief's level in 1980 he was one of the first firefighters that was hired for this City's Fire Department we hired six people in 1980 shortly after those six started Chief McCammon was promoted to the chief of the fire department he served in that position for 26 years and retired out in 2006. there's a lot more history there than that Vernon and Miss Pat were two of the first EMTs in DeSoto County they were founding members of the first South Haven Ambulance Service prior to that DeSoto County and South Haven had no Ambulance Service so for all the years that you have given us we greatly appreciate what you've done for this department you were the foundation that we built upon thank you very much [Applause]

[0:04:10] former Southaven volunteer firefighter Leroy Bledsoe boy have I got some stories to tell about you we'll save them for later on Leroy was also a volunteer firefighter in the early days in development of this fire department he served for many years as a volunteer he went on to be a staff instructor at the Mississippi State Fire Academy he spent several years there and became a firefighter for the Shelby County Fire Department served as a firefighter a driver and a lieutenant retired from Shelby County and became the Horn Lake Fire Department chief and spent about 10 years in that position before he finally retired it's quite a history there for Leroy Bledsoe one of the things I want you to know tonight is that Leroy's son is setting for promotion quite an honor former Southaven volunteer firefighter Johnny Woodard and wife Carol Johnny where y'all at back there you go Johnny was uh an awesome volunteer firefighter he spent about 12 years as a volunteer I think he worked from probably the early 70s till maybe the early 80s Johnny and Carol were also two of the first EMTs in DeSoto County and were founders of the South Haven Ambulance Service give Leroy and Johnny and their families [Applause] also Donnie's son is setting for promotion tonight second generation in the back we have retired Captain Sammy McMahon

[0:06:13] he served as a volunteer on this fire department in the early years he became a career firefighter and made it all the way up through the ranks to Captain and he recently retired I believe in January thank you for your service [Applause] I'm going to recognize Bill dog bill is a fixture around this city I promise you he's as old as I am we're lifetime friends he also served as a volunteer firefighter in the early days and later became a building inspector a fire inspector and at some point in his career he was actually the building official for the city of South Haven is that correct bill again thank you for your service foreign brother firefighter friends Bobby retired out about two years ago he spent 21 years is that correct uh and we still think of Bobby Waddell as one of our own he always will be he was a former chaplain for our fire department he still assists us and he will play a role in the event tonight so thank you for your service Bobby Waddell [Applause] and I can't leave out our employees if you'll look around the room they're lined up around the walls they're sitting on the front row these people are the ones that do the job day in and day out they're in the trenches they're the ones taking care of our citizens and our visitors you guys deserve a round of applause Bobby Waddell I would love for you to come up

[0:08:14] and bless this service for us tonight thank you wow what a privilege and an honor to be a part of this and I want to thank both of the chief for allowing me to be a part of this it's such an honor and I'm going to tell you something I miss uh working at this fire department every day of the year I pray for y'all every day of the year that God keeps you safe you're always on my mind but before we go any further I I want to read a verse to you that I found that I think applies to this uh service tonight and it's found in Ephesians chapter 6. and it says do the will of God and do it from your hearts serve wholeheartedly as if you were serving the lord and not serving men because you know that the Lord will reward everyone whatever good he does and you know what and I'm speaking to all these firefighters here whether you know it or not every call you make every person you meet every person that you help every person that you speak to are running into on this fire department you may think that you're serving your community but in reality you're serving the lord and so I want to thank you tonight for what you do and God also wants to thank you tonight for what you do because all of the firefighters in this room and police officers and paramedics all over this city God has entrusted each and every one of you to take care of his highest creation the only thing that he came to Earth and died for

[0:10:16] so thank you and God bless you keep it up where'd you buy your hands as we pray God in heaven it's such an honor to be here tonight and stand right along beside my brothers and sisters in the fire service and God I thank you for that opportunity but God is even more of an honor to be able to come before your throne and so God we want to recognize you tonight for being the awesome wonderful good guy that you are to each and every one of us and God we just want to take a moment and tell you that we love you and we bless your name and father I pray that everything that goes on in this service would do nothing but bring honor and glory to you father I thank you for the men and the women in this room father I thank you for those that serve guide the things that you gave us God our talents and our gifts God these men and these women here are using them to serve others and so God thank you for them and I pray God that you would just continue to use them in a mighty way I pray God that each and every person in this room would be a great influence on others for you and your kingdom Lord we just thank you for allowing us to be a part of your work where the hands in the feet of you yourself and we thank you for that father I thank you for the ones here who are retired for the ones here who started this fire department in the ambulance service God for without them the ones getting promoted tonight and even myself we wouldn't have a job to do like we do now so God thank you for those who gave their their time in the early years to build this fire department to what it is now God bless this service we ask all this in your holy name amen amen amen at this time I would like to invite our

[0:12:20] audible player Darren muscle bike to speak hello everyone thank y'all for letting me be a part of this special event tonight I I just I want you to hear it straight from me I don't get the opportunity a lot of times to speak with the fire department because um you're a unique group you know the what you do for our city you wear so many hats you're in so many different places and the shifts all different shifts throughout our city and spread out so it's very very rare that I get the chance to you know to address all of you I know we're streaming live so I want I want all those that are in the stations and at home uh families at home to hear this as well I appreciate what y'all do okay when I think about that when I send an email out every Thanksgiving and Christmas you know we tell everybody that some of our buildings are closed and we wish everyone a you know a happy holiday but I think about you guys and women you know that a lot of you are not home you know you're not you're not at home with your families and I don't know if you're told that enough I just want you to hear from me your mayor I recognize what you do and I really appreciate the sacrifices that you make it's very special to our city um the things that you do you know of all the Departments uh for a city to operate I look at the fire department and the role that you play and the the dangers that you put yourselves in and the things that you see on a daily basis most people can't imagine and to you that's a routine day and again your families I know that the amount of time that you're not with them uh the sacrifices that you make again I want you to hear it from me and I know I'm speaking for our Board of autumn when I say we appreciate that and it's amazing when you look at the founding fathers and mothers of our fire department it's it's so honored to get to speak to you as well and then you look at the second generation people that followed you know that it says a lot you know it says that you set a great example and uh they uh your children recognize the great service that you do for our

[0:14:23] city so they want to fall in your footsteps and I just want to tell everyone tonight I appreciate the Loyalty you know when we make changes and promotions uh I'm only here for uh this is I'm in my third year here so I still don't know everyone um but when I look back and we started looking at you know who may be the candidates to fill these roles it's been amazing to me uh the tenure of the people in our fire department how long people have been here we recognize you could have gone somewhere else I'm sure there have been many times in your career you could have made money more money somewhere else or gone into a different career but you didn't you stayed and you and you supported South Haven so I want you to know that I recognize the loyalty and again on behalf of our board I know they would support me on this and I want you to hear from me I appreciate your loyalty and we're going to return that loyalty and all the changes that are happening now um you know throughout the processes you always hear well you know are you going to hire someone from outside you got to bring somebody in to take this spot and I want you to know that never did that cross my mind because I know that we have talented people in our fire department and we will continue to reward your loyalty by promoting within so you can count on that from us uh the last thing I'll say is um we're committed our board and myself we will stay committed to providing the South Haven fire department where the resources needed to be the model that all other fire departments follow so thanks again for allowing me to be with you congratulations to everyone tonight thank you for the kind words mayor it's greatly appreciated we have a a very short video about five minutes that we would like you to watch uh it's very impressive and it shows you the wide variety of things that we do at this fire department in somebody's way

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[0:24:30] foreign I would like to thank our Fire and Life Safety educator for putting that video together she left for vacation this morning and couldn't be here but that is Molina alderman she did a great job for us [Applause] you saw was just a little overview of a lot of the different things that we've been involved in through the years and the different programs that we participate in I want to point out a few significant fires that have occurred in this city in our history many people think that big fires occur in big cities and I'm here to tell you first of all everything that you saw on that program this fire department responded to all of those incidents except for two were in this city some of the significant fires that we've had Through The Years many of you will remember these uh in the early 80s the maloney-high distribution warehouse they had just added 500 000 square feet to the warehouse with a state-of-the-art sprinkler system and we got a call for an automatic fire alarm there one night and as we cross the railroad tracks we could see the the smoke column in the sky we had a half a million square foot Warehouse with a fire over running the sprinkler system in the center of that building we literally had to extend hand lines and do a hand attack on that fight in the 80s that was a six billion dollar fire loss total value of the building was 100 million dollars so we saved 94 million dollars worth of property that night a few years after that one of the

[0:26:34] most significant fires was the original Brown Missionary Baptist Church located in Sweeney and State Line Road it was on a Sunday morning a cool crisp autumn day and church services were going on when we arrived on the scene people were actually running out of the sanctuary that fire almost cost six of us our lives it was a very historic event we were interior fighting we were inside fighting the fire we had crews in the back and we had crews in the front and the building collapsed it collapsed all at one time all sections three of us in the back we Dove out the back door as Timbers burning Timbers were falling on top of us the crew that was in the front two of them made it out and one was still trapped inside that man is here tonight Michael Johnson stand up for a second Michael Johnson broke a side window out of the church we were able to rescue them it's one of the most significant incidents that we've ever had and a very good learning experience for our fire department more recently just a few months ago we had three-story apartment fire you saw the the fire on the slide those are very significant fires those apartments house as many as 12 different families in each building and that's the second one we've had in the last few years we have big fires in the sea uh just a few months ago we had a three-story occupied Hotel that burned it was an exterior fire it burned from the bottom floor all the way to the third floor it pulled the roofs the

[0:28:37] hallways full of smoke we had to evacuate the entire complex so again we do have very significant fires in this season luckily they don't come very often I would like to brag on our fire prevention division because they are in our commercial buildings every day they are checking sprinkler systems and fire alarm systems and life safety issues and I'm proud to tell you that our structure fires are on a decrease they've been decreasing for three years which means that our fire prevention program is working Malia alderman our Fire and Life Safety educator she is out doing programs throughout this city constantly she works with children she works with seniors she works with everyone and if you didn't know it we have a free smoke detector program in this city where if you need smoke detectors we will come out and install them for you so we do a lot of proactive things that helps keep our fire department members safe and our community safe I get asked a lot of times and I know our Personnel do too what do firefighters and what the paramedics do and I want to give you a little glimpse into our lives the first thing I'll explain to you is we are not superheroes we are ordinary people who are called upon to do extraordinary things we try to do it very well we have dedicated Our Lives to helping other people and in doing so we have sacrificed many things time with our families our health and sometimes maybe even our lives great firefighters and medics

[0:30:41] are called to do this job if you're great at this job it comes from the heart and soul I promise you and I could say that our Personnel will call to do this job as we respond to emergencies they're always pressing often confusing dangerous and often physically and biologically harmful yes we have one of the most dangerous jobs in the United States we know that when we sign on when someone needs our help that's when we become the most important person in the world to them on our arrival at the scene of an incident we may experience the excitement anxiety fear dread sadness and many times we simply would like to be somewhere else why because we have seen the tears we've heard the cries we've felt the pain and we have experienced the terror and too many times we have held a body that will never Breathe Again sick cut mangled or burned we must learn to deal with it that's when we lean on our brothers and sisters that's when we have those talks when we get it off our chest and we share in our Brotherhood I've often said to many people we saved the lives that God allows us to save and the others we give to him and I'd spend a few minutes describing what our fire department is all about first of all we have five divisions Administration fire prevention and education training Emergency Medical Services and our operations our operation division is our heart and soul of the fire department the men and women that

[0:32:45] you see standing around the walls and sitting in these chairs that is the heart console those are the ones that are in the trenches making the difference we have 116 uniformed personnel we have four fire stations with four front line Pumpers two aerial trucks and four ambulances paramedic ambulances we work 24 hours a day seven days a week 365 days a year in 2015 we responded to over 9 000 calls for assistance and on 9 000 of those calls we attempted to give 100 percent customer service we are a great fire department we have the best station the best apparatus and the best equipment that money can buy and we thank our mayor and board of alderman for providing those things for us but I'll tell you right now that what makes this a great fire department is every single employee that we have not the chief not the deputy chief not the newest firefighter every single person is what makes us great and this fire department from its early days when it was a volunteer department we were known as one of the best fire departments in this region of the country at one time we had the most smoke divers and that is a very intense certified training program the most difficult hardest program in the United States is in Mississippi and this fire department had the most smoke divers on its roster something to be very proud of a lot of

[0:34:48] the guys sitting for promotion tonight have been through that program so I'd like for you to give our Personnel those that are working in the trenches around the world all right tonight we're here to honor 11 firefighters and I would like to share with you what it took for them to get to this point in their career first each one of them started somewhere in the fire service straight off the street no training no experience and they work their ways up through the ranks you know this fire department we have a firefighter one a firefighter two and a firefighters relay and it takes some time and a lot of training and experience to get to those different levels from that point they are mentored by their senior personnel they train with their Crews that they're assigned to they train in local state and National programs and they've achieved specialty certifications they spent hundreds of hours of study and preparation they've tested at multiple levels and they have achieved their individual goals we're here to honor you tonight for those efforts be put forward gentlemen you are not only the present leaders of this fire department you're also the Future Leaders of this fire department so thank you I would like to congratulate each one of you sirs you have done a very good job I will leave it with one final word this is of encouragement to our promotes it is a Bible verse First Corinthians chapter 16 verse 13.

[0:36:55] always be on guard stand firm in your faith be courageous and be strong there's one other group that I need to honor tonight and I need to recognize that is the families of the firefighters the mothers the fathers the spouses the sons the daughters because you sacrifice a slightly sacrifice you allow them to come and work their 24-hour shifts you encourage them and you support them they miss birthdays and anniversaries and Little League baseball games and holidays and without your support they would not be able to do the things that they do I know that when they've gone home after a long shift maybe they've seen some very difficult things dealt with some difficult things sometimes they just want to come home and just have some quiet time and be alone and I know that that you support them in that and we thank you very much you are a very important part the extended part of this fire department's family so for all the families a round of applause for you at this time I would like to invite Deputy fire chief Danny scallions and he will hold the pinning ceremony thank you chief I will just take a moment uh I can't pass up this opportunity we have so many of our men and women of the department here with us tonight I just want to say how very proud I am that I I have the pleasure of working with you and I'm proud of you and what you do day in and day out obviously this profession asked a lot of it and I'm very proud to be a part of this

[0:38:57] department very proud of the men that are here on the first few roads this evening we have 11 members up for promotion seven of which were approved in a previous board meeting for or been approved upcoming board meeting with with a total of four driver operators for company officer lieutenants one fire prevention lieutenant and two to the rank of Captain so as I call them up here they've each given an opportunity to uh decide who they want to pin their badge on them also they will be presented with their helmet and they will they have decided who they want to present their helmet so I will call that person out if they have decided and chosen to do that as I called them up and we will start with the drivers just going in alphabetical order the first driver uh is Jeremy DeWitt Robert Jeremy DeWitt is unable to be here with us this evening unfortunately and he has nine years on the department very very good work ethics and I'm very proud to have the the time that I've spent working with him and just wanted to mention him unfortunately he wasn't able to be able to succeed the next driver comes in with 30 years of time served here on this department that's uh driver Michael Johnson he has asked that he'll come on up here Mike he's asked to not pin his badge and also his son Tyler is here people come on up thought I was going to present his helmet all right next up uh driver Adam Lander

[0:41:24] 17 years here on the on the department altogether he has asked uh Todd Ferguson a fellow driver here on the apartment type he'll come forward Todd's going to pin his badge answer [Music] next up for promotion to the rank of driver of seven years on the department Robert Joe Serio please come forward he has asked his long-term time lieutenant Carpenter if he could come forward he's going to pin the badge and I will present his helmet foreign [Applause] our first lieutenant promotion of the evening is Lieutenant George McCoy 12 years on the

[0:43:28] department he has asked that I pin his bags and his Lieutenant Lieutenant Rodney Turner will present his helmet Lieutenant you can come forward wow thank you our next Lieutenant promotion is a driver of 20 years old the department a lieutenant Lamar Parish Lamar Parish has asked his longtime Lieutenant Lieutenant Tim Hathaway to step forward and pin his batch I will be presenting this helmet I've been waiting list for a while thank you our next Lieutenant promotion is to Lieutenant Ron Webb of 12 Years on the department he's asked his mother Rebecca

[0:45:30] West and this way after you get set forward as well dependent badge and he has also asked Chief Court to present his help thank you the next Lieutenant promotion is to Lieutenant Greg Woodard with 11 years on the department he has asked his dad Johnny Woodard Mr water to get set forward defendant badge he also has asked his wife Victoria and four-year-old grandsons that present us helmet foreign [Applause] we have a fire prevention Lieutenant that we were promoting as well in this

[0:47:33] group Lieutenant Tim Rowland unfortunately he is actually in a class this week down in Jackson he had planned to drive back this evening for this ceremony but due to the weather he thought it might be best that he might be on the road this evening and have to go back first thing in the early but would you want to recognize him and his accomplishment here this evening our first Captain promotion of the evening is to Captain Ricky Barnett 20 years on the department Captain Barnett police step forward he's asking I appendix bash and retired Captain Sammy McMahon to present his helmet again thank you guys foreign our next Captain promotion is going to be to Captain Trey Bledsoe 16.5 and a half years on the department he has asked retired captain man to pin is badge and also his dad Leroy Bledsoe to present a settlement thank you foreign

[0:49:57] [Applause] congratulations again to you all I've had the pleasure of working with these men quite a few years now and I I'm very confident and you've been able to get out there and do the job fill the position and do it well so again congratulations I think at this point we'll probably call chaplain and Chris Shelton up for a closing prayer would you pray with me Heavenly Father Lord God we thank you for the honor and the privilege to be here tonight Lord we thank you for the blessing to recognize the accomplishments of these men father I thank you for the wisdom the discernment Lord the the calling that you've given upon the lives of these men who were promoted here tonight father I pray that you continue to bless them or to continue to use them father I pray for their families Lord I pray that you just give them total comfort and peace that it's you who called them and you who place them Lord if you've done so you will equip them and God tonight I counted an honor to be able to serve alongside such brave men and women as those of the South Haven fire department God when I think of what it takes to or run into a burning building as it was mentioned tonight or when others are running out God we know that's a special colony a column that comes from you God I thank you that there are those that will stand in the Gap Lord to protect us to protect our our homes to protect our families we got denied us I saw the slogan of everybody goes home God I pray your continued protection upon the men and women of this department Lord I pray that you just build a hedge of protection around them

[0:51:59] and their families or did you give their families peace and comfort when their loved ones are away and at work you watch over their families while they are at work and or give these um fire department personnel of peace that their families are watched over lord while they're serving God tonight I lift up our Administration our new Chief our new deputy chief I thank you for the men that they are the hearts that they have the fact that they brought this here tonight Lord I pray you continue to bless them with Lord just don't a servant's heart that they have that they might be a or a witness to others and uh just an example the Lord even to the newest firefighter you got to also thank you for our mayor and board and I pray you continue to press upon their heart Lord to provide what's needed or the training the buildings the equipment more that these men and women might carry out their duties God most of all tonight Lord we thank you that you love us we thank you for your son Jesus and we ask that you just uh hear all this and as precious name amen amen foreign and uh recognize the founding fathers of my fire department our department started in 1962 as a volunteer fire department the South Haven Community was pretty much built around the fire department and the firefighters they built the foundation of our current Department and every employee that we have had through the years those that have already retired we thank you so much for your service some of you are here tonight but also for the men and women that are in this room for those that have already been promoted through the years and if you look around those that are wearing the white shirts Are the officers of this fire department take the opportunity to thank them for the service that they do and understand that a lot of the blue shirts in this room in the next few years will also be

[0:54:03] officers of this fire department thank you very much I would like for all the promotees to come to the front of the room and face the crowd one last time ladies and gentlemen these are the Future Leaders of our fire department let's give them foreign this concludes our program please stick around for a little Fellowship we've got Refreshments in the back thank you very much for being here tonight foreign

Captured 2026-07-26 · source: youtube.com/watch?v=HzoAW8wlW-Y