The Bennettsville Fire Department had a busy 2021, with the numbers telling the story.

From Dec. 1, 2020, to Nov. 30, 2021, the department responded to 4,162 calls. These calls included 91 fires and 696 motor vehicle accidents/EMS calls.

The pre-incident value of theproperty from those calls was $2,974,625. The losses from the calls were $589,505.

The average response time was six minutes.

Department members installed 153 smoke alarms and 19 carbon monoxide alarms.

The department held its awards night on Dec. 4.

A video presentation showed the year in review for the fire department. At the end of it, members honored the firefighters who came before them.

Fire Chief Chris Burks noted the Bennettsville Fire Department is 110 years old.

“We needed to honor the ones who came before us,” he said. “Some of them we knew. Some of them we were friends with. Some of them we didn’t know. But that is why we are here today because of them.”

Mayor Carolyn Prince administered the oath of office to Kobe Green, Obrien Hagan, Mark Quick, and Caleb Herndon.

The H. Dixon Award was presented to Mark Quick.

Kobe Green received the Chief’s Award.

Attendance awards were presented to full-time and volunteers. Lt. Thomas Dew received the full-time attendance award, while Lt. Mike Hagan received the volunteer award.

Service awards were presented to Lt. Bill Parrish, 35 years; Assistant Chief Luke Sides, 10 years; and Chief Chris Burks, 10 years.

Officer of the Year is Lt. Will Parrish.

The full-time Firefighter of the Year is RJ Hayes.

Volunteer Fire Fighter is Jack Herndon.

Members of the fire department that completed 75 hours or more of fire fighting training were Fire Marshal Spencer Sellers, 1,010; Lt. Thomas Dew, 414; Lt. Will Parrish, 505; Engineer Teddy Stubbs, 346; Engineer Wade Cheves, 363; Engineer Will Griggs, 466; Fire Fighter RJ Hayes, 469; Fire Fighter Seth Cavanaugh, 304; Fire Fighter Charles Black, 83; Lt. Mike Hagan, 148; Fire Fighter Thomas Dew III, 92; Fire Fighter Mark Quick, 91; Chief Chris Burks, 458; and Assistant Chief Luke Sides, 401.

As a department, the members completed 6,440 hours.

Lt. Thomas Dew received a life-saving pin for performing CPR on a patient on Feb. 5, 2021.

On Jul. 6, 2021, a Bennettsville police officer was injured in an on-duty motor vehicle accident. Due to the actions of several members of the Bennettsville Fire Department, the officer was brought to safety.) Life-saving pins were presented to Lt. William A. Parrish, Lt. Will B. Parrish, Engineer Teddy Stubbs, Fire Fighter Richard Hayes, Fire Fighter David Webb, Fire Fighter Kobe Green, Fire Fighter Jack Herndon, Chief Chris Burks, and Assistant Luke Sides.

Thomas Dew III, Will Griggs, and Will Parrish received a life-saving pin for responding to a house call where a person was trapped inside on Apr. 17, 2021.

Turner’s Backyard BBQ catered the meal.

Burks said the goals for 2022 were to continue to do more hands-on training and offer more fire academy classes at the department.

Other goals include staying involved with the schools in the department’s coverage area, staying active in the community, and doing more pre-plans and inspections.

“And continue to do things in a safe manner so we can go home to our families,” Burks said.