MORGAN COUNTY
Because emergencies can happen at the worst possible times, members of the fire service rarely work a predictable schedule. And when you are in charge of a staff of approximately 100, you have to be prepared to respond to any situation without warning.
Chief Jeff Stone of Morgan County Fire and Rescue had risen to that challenge for nearly 30 years, but he turned in his turnout gear at the end of May, ending a career that began as a volunteer.
Stone grew up in Clarkston and lived there until he was 16 when he and his family moved to Tennessee. He said he had plans to become a mechanical engineer at one point and attended Tennessee Tech for one year toward that end.
His family moved back to Georgia in 1993 and settled in Loganville, where he joined the Walton County Fire Department.
“There was a volunteer station next to our house, and I kept seeing these guys out there every week and I wondered what was going on,” Stone said. “So being nosy, I stopped one day and asked.”
The firefighters told Stone they were volunteers and asked him how old he was. When he told them he was 20, they asked him if he wanted to volunteer.
Upon Stone showing some interest, he was told a class was starting in about three weeks. Before long he was signing on the dotted line.
Not long after that, Stone went to his first live burn.
“Man, I was hooked,” Stone said. “I just loved it.”
At the time Stone was working at a Sears store in Gwinnett as part of the loss-prevention team. After eight or nine months as a volunteer Stone became a part-time firefighter.
“They worked me like a dog,” he said.
Stone decided he would get some training and education for his new-found vocation and first went to EMT [Emergency Medical Technician] school on his own at Gwinnett Tech, finishing the course work in March 1997.
That same month, he was offered a full-time position with Walton County and worked there for 21 years, working his way up to battalion chief. He was also a senior firefighter with the City of Monroe Fire Department.
The chief’s job in Morgan County opened up in 2015, and Stone started his new position that November.
“I put in for it, and lo and behold, I got the job,” Stone said.
According to the Morgan County website, “Jeff holds numerous degrees and both state and national certifications. Jeff received his AAS in Fire Science from West Georgia Technical College in 2008, a Bachelor of Science in Fire Administration in 2012, and a Master’s Degree in Emergency Services Management in 2015. Jeff has also maintained his Georgia certification as an Emergency Manager since 2004.”
Stone is still a relatively young man by today’s standards, so he won’t be taking up the rocking chair just yet.
He has signed on with Emergency Services Consulting International, a company whose mission is “to provide expertise and guidance that enhances community safety.”
“They are the consulting arm of the International Association of Fire Chiefs,” Stone said. He will be working in the project services and strategic planning area for the company.
Looking back, Stone says fire services as a whole have made a great deal of progress during his career.
“The one thing I see that is changing positively is the recognition and the awareness of fire service personnel themselves,” Stone said. “When I started, we had issues no different than the military, such as PTSD, and we were brought up in a world where the philosophy was ‘suck it up, buttercup, and go on.’
"And there’s been a really big change in the past several years of ‘hey, this thing really affects us mentally, our own health and well-being.”
In a nutshell, Stone says that firefighters who take better care of themselves are better able to take care of the communities they serve.
“That’s what it’s always been about in the fire services, ‘What can we do for our community.’” Stone said.
Stone credits the men and women who work for Morgan County Fire and Rescue and other fire services in the area for making his eight years on the job so fulfilling and productive.
His administrative assistant Cindy Williams had high praise for the man she has worked for from almost day one.
“Jeff hired me to be the administrative assistant for the department within two months of being selected to be Fire Chief for MCFR,” Williams said. “We had never met and didn’t know each other but working together became a pleasure, especially learning where his heart for the department was at. Under his guidance, the department has grown, and I believe he has been a great fire chief for the agency. He will be missed.”