BATESBURG-LEESVILLE, S.C. — The Town of Batesburg-Leesville has hired a new chief to run their fire department.
After looking over 40 applications across the country, Josh Frye was chosen as the new Fire Chief of the Town of Batesburg-Leesville last week.
The former chief, Jay Hendrix, just accepted a position as the Assistant Town Manager for the town, which led to the opening of the fire chief job.
Frye is from the town and graduated at Batesburg-Leesville High School in 1995. He then began his career in the fire service in his hometown.
"I started here volunteering in 95' and served about five years in," said Frye.
Since he has graduated as a Panther, he's been working in the fire service industry for nearly 20 years. Frye has worked at the Clinton and Columbia Fire Departments and the Lexington County Fire Service.
Back in January of 2018, Frye returned to the Batesburg-Leesville Fire Department and has been the Recruitment and Retention Officer. He's been teaching firefighter courses at the high school.
The town said in a press release, "These activities have led to an increase to the department's volunteer base over the past year and a half on the job."
"I had been here working in the school district and teaching the fire program here and just decided it would be a good possible career advancement for me. Put in and went through the process and was selected," explained Frye.
The new Fire Chief says he knew he had to apply for the job.
"It's really exciting to be able to lead the department now," said Frye. "(It's) something I never really thought about whenever I started in 95', but it has since turned into a good opportunity."
Frye believes he's ready to hit the ground running.
"Really I just kind of hope to build from where we are. I think we have a very strong department here and it's just a matter now of kind of working from there and trying to build and trying to push things forward and keep progressing," said Frye.
One of the first tasks the new Fire Chief will have is finding someone to take over his former role as Recruitment and Retention Officer. That person will take over as the teacher at Batesburg-Leesville High School in the firefighter classes.
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