May-June Volume 17 - Issue 3

Cherokee County Office of Fire & Emergency ServicesThe Fire Wire

Cherokee County EMSBEST in Region

Story on page 7

Northwest Georgia

Region 1 EMS

Advisory Council

Northwest Georgia

EMS Systems Inc

Cherokee County Office ofFire and Emergency Services

150 Chattin DriveCanton, GA 30115

Phone: [678] 493-4000Fax: [678] 493-4034

www.cherokeecountyfire.org

Office Hours: Monday through Friday8:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M.

Closed Saturday, Sunday and Holidays

The Fire WirePublished bi-monthly by the

Cherokee County Office of Fireand Emergency Services

Tim PratherFire Chief

Tim CavenderEditor

Eddie RobinsonAssistant Fire Chief

Shane WestField Operations Chief

Danny WestDivision Chief

Dean FloydDivision Chief

Chad ArpFire Marshal

Jill Mabley, M.D.,FACEPMedical Director

Page 2The Fire Wire

ABOUT THE COVER: Chero-kee County EMS was recog-nized as the best EMS servicein the Region by the NorthwestGeorgia Emergency MedicalServices Advisory Council.

Photos and story onpage 7

The Environmental Protection Division (EPD) ban on open burningresumes May 1 of each year. The latest release from the GeorgiaDepartment of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division,Air Protection Branch lists 54 counties that are subject to following theannual burn ban.

According to Cherokee County Fire Marshal, Chad Arp, “The burningban is an important part of the state’s plan to improve air quality duringsmog season, which runs from May 1 through September 30 of eachyear.”

Citizens and businesses in the affected 54 counties are not allowed toburn yard and land-clearing debris during the burn ban season. Someactions, such as campfires and agricultural activities are exempt.

For more information about alternatives to burning such as compostingand chipping, please call the Department of Community Affairs at 404-

679-4940 or the Pollution Prevention AssistanceDivision toll-free at 800-685-2443. Debris

can also be hauled to a commercialprocessing/grinding/composting operationor to an inert or construction anddemolition landfill. For a list of landfills inyour area, please call EPD’s Solid WasteManagement Program at 404-362-2692.Cherokee County Citizens can get more

information on the open burning ban bycalling the EPD Mountain District Office: 478-

751-6612 or EPD’s Air Protection Branch at404-363-7000. Small businesses can get help and information bycalling EPD’s Small Business Assistance Program toll-free at 877-427-6255.

Burn Ban Now in Effect

Page 3The Fire Wire

Cherokee Fire Explore Becomes Eagle Scout

Firefighter Visits Pre-SchoolA Cherokee County firefighter, Lt. Brady Cornelison,took time out of his busy schedule on March 12th tovisit with children at The Carpenter Shop, a Christianpre-school, located at 367 Green Drive, in theKeithsburg community.

Cornelison was a part of Community Helpers Weekthat is held every March at the school. According toGina Chambers, one of the teachers at the school,“He (Brady) is so good with the kids and the childrenlove it,”

After speaking with the children about his job andfire safety, Brady took the children outside to get to aclose-up view and tour of a ladder truck.

Brady’s son Brock currently attends The CarpenterShop and his daughter, Berkley, will be attending inthe fall.

Lt. Brady Cornelison visits with the children at TheCarpenter Shop. Brady’s son, Brock, wears his dad’sfirefighter gloves.

Attending the Eagle Scout ceremony were Kachele’s father GeneKachele, Sr, (left) and his mother, Sharon (right).

Cherokee County Fire ExplorerCadet, Gene Kachele, Jr., recentlyreceived the Eagle Scout rankfrom the Boy Scouts of Americaduring a formal ceremony calledthe Court of Honor.

On Monday night, April 23rd,Kachele received the highestachievement attainable in the BoyScout program. At this event,Kachele recognized Sgt. MichaelSims, an advisor for the CherokeeCounty Fire Explorer Post # 469,with the Eagle Scout MentorAward. This award is for any non-parent who was instrumental inthe youth earning his Eagle Scoutrank. According to Kachele,“During a difficult time in my scouting and exploring career, Sgt. Sims encouraged and motivated me to stayon tract and complete what I had begun. It was because of this positive mentoring that I wanted to recognizeSgt. Sims with this honor.”

According to Sims, “Kachele continues to stay active in our post, his troop and scouting’s honor society, TheOrder of the Arrow.” The designation “Eagle Scout” was founded over one hundred years ago and less than2% of boys who join scouting achieve this rank.

Page 4The Fire Wire

A retirement breakfast was held Friday, April 20th, for Lt. Mike Jones for over 19 years of service withCherokee County Fire & Emergency Services.

Battalion-3, A-Shift hosted a retirement breakfast for Lt. Jones at Station 12 in Waleska. Over twenty crewmembers attended the breakfast shared stories and memories of working with Lt. Jones.

Cherokee County Fire Chief, Tim Prather, and Assistant Fire Chief, Eddie Robinson, also attended withChief Prather preparing the biscuits and Chief Robinson preparing the sausage gravy. The station crewprepared the remainder of the meal. After the meal, Chief Prather presented Lt. Jones with his retirement“Trumpet” after and thanked him for his many years of service.

Lt. Jones came to work for Cherokee County Fire & Emergency Services on January 4th, 1999. He waspromoted to Sergeant in 2002 and in 2007 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. His official retirementdate was March 8th, 2018.

Lt. Mike Jones Retires from Fire Department

Explorers Present Colors at Braves Game

Lt. Mike Jones (center) receives his “Trumpet” from Cherokee County Fire Chief, Tim Prather.

Cherokee County Fire Explorers Post #469 presented the colorsprior to the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets baseball game onSaturday night, April 21st, at Suntrust Park in Cobb County.

Sgt. Michael Sims, an advisor for the local explorers group, said,“Our explorers joined Boy Scout Troop 304 in leading a paradearound the field before the game. After the parade, the CherokeeCounty Fire Explorers had the honor of presenting our nation’scolors on the field in front of the players and thousands of fans.”

Cadet Fire Lieutenant, Denver Ice, carried the American flag andwas accompanied by Cadet Captain, Dalton Hamby, CadetFirefighter, Fabian Frazzari, Cadet Firefighter, Griffin Hansen, andCadet Firefighter, Jared MacCracken, along with members of BoyScout Troop 304.

The explorer program is part of the Learning for Life Division of theBoy Scout of America. “Saturday night was “Scout Night at theBraves” and Post 469 enjoyed this honor of representing scouts andexplorers from the Atlanta area,” added Sims.

Page 5The Fire Wire

Lt. King, Simmons and Karbach ReceiveLetters of Commendation

Lt. Heath King, a Cherokee County Firefighter, received a Letter of Commendation on April 6th fromCherokee County Fire Chief, Tim Prather. The letter congratulated King and his crew, Jeremy Simmons andMark Karnbauch for assisting a youth member of our community that may someday become a part ofCherokee County Fire and Emergency Services.

According to Chief Prather, “I received a “thank you” letter from Coach Joel Schubert, of the Creekview HighSchool boys’ lacrosse team. The thank you was in regards to a request from his office to help a student,Parker Lindsay of Creekview, with a senior project. The coach reported that Parker has interest to become afirefighter. I understand that you along with two other personnel assisted Parker with his senior project onshort notice because of a last minute effort for Parker to get it complete. Coach Schubert indicated that yougenuinely provided the needed assistance and was highly impressed with the commitment you displayedwhile assisting and serving our community.” Prather went on to say “thank you” for a job well done.

Cherokee County Firefighters Jeremy Simmons and Mark Karnbach were each presented with a letter ofcommendation from Cherokee County Fire Chief, Tim Prather on April 16th. Making the presentation wereShift Commander Ryan McElwee, Battalion Chief Fred Dobson and Battalion Chief Brian Ward.

Shift Commander Ryan McElwee thanked the firefighters for going above and beyond the call of duty.According to Battalion Chief Fred Dobson, “I am proud of the firefighters for being involved in the localcommunity.” Dobson went on to say that he wanted to show Simmons and Karnbach how much heappreciates their professionalism. Battalion Chief, Brian Ward, added that he was proud of the fact that theywere willing to go the extra mile to help out the citizens of Cherokee County.

Congratulations to all for their commitment of helping the youth of our community.

Lt. King receives his letter of commendation from BattalionChief, Ryan Osborne, while Battalion Chief, Fred Dobson,makes his presentation to Karnbach (top right) and BattalionChief, Ryan McElwee presents the letter to Simmons (bottomright).

Page 6The Fire Wire

overseeing their departments and personnel,” said Dwayne Jamison, President of the Georgia Associationof Fire Chiefs.

“I believe continuing education, coupled with a verified credentialing process, is an integral part of today’sfire service. To date there have only been 95 of these certifications awarded,” added McElwee.

McElwee came to work for Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services on September 25, 1995. He waspromoted to Battalion Chief in February of 2016 and was promoted to Shift Commander on November 11th,2017.

Congratulations to Ryan McElwee on a job well done!

Cherokee County Fire andEmergency Services ShiftCommander, Ryan McElwee,recently received his Fire ChiefCertification at the GeorgiaAssociation of Fire Chiefs SpringExecutive Session in Savannah,GA on April 10th.

In order for an applicant to receivethe certification, they must meetfour pre-requisites includingholding a Georgia FirefighterStands and Training Council StateCertification in at least one of thecurrent fire service certificationsand serving as a minimum of aBattalion Chief or DivisionSupervisor. According toMcElwee, “This certification isearned based on a points systemreflecting a combination ofeducation, experience, and yearsof service. I have been workingtoward this certification sinceJanuary of 2016.”

“We developed this program toensure that the fire departments inthe state of Georgia have qualifiedcredentialed and professionalleaders and managers of

Ryan McElwee (right) receives his fire chief certification from DwayneJamison, President of the Georgia Association of Fire Chiefs on April10th.

McElwee Receives Fire Chief Certification

Page 7The Fire Wire

Cherokee EMS Best in Region

Several Cherokee County Firefighters and administrative personnelattended the awards banquet last night including (left to right): MiguelCastro. Lance Tucker, Paramedic Program Director, Randy Pierson,Cody Fischer, Sgt. Brandon Barton, Chris George, Division Chief, DanWest, Sgt. Dwayne Barbee and Sgt. Val Hice.

Northwest Georgia EmergencyMedical Services Advisory Councilpresented Cherokee County Fire& Emergency Services with theNorthwest Georgia – Region 1EMS Service of the Year Award onMarch 15th during their annualawards banquet held at theClarence Brown ConventionCenter in Cartersville, Georgia.

Northwest Georgia EmergencyMedical Services Advisory Councilprovides assistance andrecommendations to the GeorgiaOffice of EMS in regards to thedevelopment and continuedemergency medical services in 16counties in northwest Georgia.

According to Cherokee CountyFire and Emergency ServicesDivision Chief, Danny West, “Thisaward is presented to the EMSAgency whose nomination scoreshighest on 11 criteria includingstandards, protocols, violations,innovation and community service. The nominations are given to evaluators, who are out of state, to makethe selection of the winner.”

“With the leadership and guidance of our Medical Director, Dr. JillMabley, Division Chief, Danny West and EMS Program Director, RandyPierson, Cherokee County continues to be a leader in the state ofGeorgia when it comes to emergency medical care,” stated CherokeeCounty Fire Chief, Tim Prather.

The first time the award waspresented to the department wasin 2008, which is the same yearthey received the GeorgiaEmergency Medical Service ofthe Year Award. The departmentalso received the Region 1 awardin 2014.

PHOTO TO LEFT: David Foster, Northwest Georgia EMS Director,makes the announcement regarding Cherokee County Fire &Emergency Services being named Region 1 EMS Service of the Year.

Page 8The Fire Wire

Matthew Bagley, Christian Kutas, and MatthewHudson were recognized at Cherokee County FireHeadquarters

Geordan Ganka, Eddie Barajas and David Joneswere recognized by Cherokee County Fire Chief,Tim Prather.

New Smoke Divers and Flames RecognizedSix Cherokee County firefighters were recognizedyesterday and today at Fire Headquarters for theircompletion of the Georgia Smoke Diver and theGeorgia Flames courses that were recently held.

Cherokee County Fire Chief, Tim Prather, presentedthe firefighters with a “Letter of Commendation” forcompleting the courses. Matthew Bagley, ChristianKutas, and Matthew Hudson were recognized atCherokee County Fire Headquarters on March 27th.Bagley and Hudson were recognized for completingthe Flames course and Kutas was recognized forbeing a new Smoke Diver. On March 28th, ChiefPrather recognized Eddie Barajas for completing theSmoke Diver course and David Jones for being thelatest Flame and Geordan Ganka was congratulatedfor attending and completing both courses.

Counting the firefighters who were recognized thisweek, Cherokee County Fire & Emergency Servicesnow has 42 firefighters who have completed theSmoke Divers course and 23 who have completedthe Flames training. “We have certain qualificationsthat our firefighters have to meet in order for them togo through these courses,” said Chief Prather. “Oncethey have met the requirements, we assign them amentor to help prepare them for the course.Because of this, we have seen this to be a plus inhelping our firefighters complete Smoke Divers andFlames and we have heard that other firedepartments are looking into our program because

of our success rate,” he added.

The Georgia Smoke Diver course is a six-day, 60 hour program designed for the experienced firefighter whodesires realistic training in self-survival, firefighter rescue, advanced search & rescue, thermal imaging,emergency procedures, teamwork, discipline, team leadership, situational awareness and decision makingas well as how to function within the elements of the Incident Command System.

The program condenses and replicates the extreme demands that may be placed on firefighters at anyincident. Emphasis is placed on the day-to-day challenges firefighters face at structure fires, multiple-alarmfires and multiple fires within a single shift. These same principles can be applied to the performance ofduties at natural disasters, catastrophic events and acts of terrorism. Coupled with constant situationalawareness drills and forced decision making, the candidate gains condensed experience and therefore isable to operate more efficiently and safely at incidents.

The Flames course is three days of training that will test an individual firefighter’s personal limitations whenworking in high stress situations with limited recuperation periods. It is also designed to test the individuals’ability to function as part of a team. Teambuilding is a focal point of this course. The successful firecompany must always function as a team.