Family, friends and fellow firemen were dispatched to the Cornelia City Hall Tuesday evening to celebrate as seven firemen were promoted in rank.
“During March of 2021, several members of the fire department were promoted to Operations Lieutenant. That being during the COVID shut down, we were unable to gather to celebrate them,” said Cornelia Fire Chief Billy Joe Jenkins Jr.
Three members of the Cornelia Fire Department were promoted to Lieutenant in 2021, those being Lt. Michael Hall, Lt. Matthew Williams and Lt. Drake Meister. Recently, there was a vacancy and Lt. Chris Bruce accepted the position.
In addition to celebrating his promotion to Operations Lieutenant in 2021, Meister was pinned as Operations Captain that evening. Alongside were Captain Dustin Henson and Captain Lee Humphrys, who were also pinned as Operations Captains.
Those honored during the ceremony were pinned by various important people in their lives, ranging from fire chiefs, parents, grandparents, wives and children.
Williams was pinned by Assistant Chief of Toccoa Fire Chief Frankie Dietz, while Hall was pinned by his mother Carolyn. Bruce was pinned by his wife Ashley along with their sons Liam and Cason.
Meister was pinned by his wife Melissa, while Henson was pinned by his wife Ashley and their daughters Addison and Tinley. Humphrys was pinned by his parents Connie and Morgan as well as his Grandpa Red.
“The significance of it all is being able to see the leadership that we have here at Cornelia, to see them grow in the position of being able to receive captains and lieutenants pinning. So, it just excites me to see the city fire department and the city in whole to be able to grow,” Jenkins said.