Two Cherokee Fire Chiefs Retired At End Of 2019

CHEROKEE COUNTY, GA — Two chiefs with Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services retired at the end of 2019.

Danny West, who served as the Division Chief of Support Services and the EMS Chief over medical operations, retired on Dec. 27, 2019. West began serving the community at age 12 with the junior firefighter program with Hickory Flat Volunteer Fire Department. After graduating from high school in 1990, he began his career with Cherokee County after being hired by Oak Grove Fire Department as a Firefighter/EMT. In 1994, West, on his own time, attended paramedic school becoming one of very few paramedics within the agency.

Battalion Chief, Gary Vaughan, also retired from the fire department last month. According to Assistant Fire Chief, Eddie Robinson, “Gary Vaughan was one of the founding members of the Holbrook Campground Volunteer Fire Department and also served as the department’s Fire Chief for some time.”

Vaughan was hired on as a career firefighter on June 14, 1999, as a Battalion Chief.

Both of these chiefs had more than 50 years of combined career service as career firefighters, plus numerous years as volunteer firefighters, too.

Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services congratulates West and Vaughan for their service to the citizens of Cherokee County.

"Thanks to you both for a job well done, and we wish you many happy years of retirement," the department said.