Konstantin Vengerowsky/Clarendon Citizen
CCFD’s founding chief honored
Jones grew up chasing fire trucks. Like many young boys he wanted to ride the big truck and put out those large fires. Unlike many, he actually followed that road and dug that path smooth, becoming one of the most successful and well-respected firefighters in the state.
Most people don’t have buildings named after them. Carter H. Jones is an exception. A whole fire station bears his letters.
On June 12, Jones became the first recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, South Carolina State Firefighters’ Association’s highest honor.
In a nomination letter, Bruce A. Kline, Fire Chief of the Lady’s Island-St. Helena Fire District, said the following about him:
“Carter Jones, leads by example, is well-respected, and represents the highest qualities of being a firefighter. Nobody can challenge his heart, dedication and commitment to his community, Clarendon County Fire Department and his love for the State’s Fire Service. The only disadvantage of presenting this award to him is it sets the bar extremely high for those who follow.”
Born to E.P. “Pen” Jones, a public accountant, and Cooper Jones, a homemaker, he was raised in downtown Manning. Jones would often slip out at night when he heard the fire alarm go off at the city’s fire station.
“My mother didn’t take that very kindly,” he said.
Jones said that he’s wanted to be a fire fighter for as long as he could remember. According to him, there are several factors that played into this: the desire to help people, the adrenaline rush of being called to a fire, and being able to control what others may consider to be chaos.
“As you get older, the excitement has changed, you recognize truly how dangerous it is and you develop more awareness for victims and firefighters safety,” Jones said.
As much passion as he had for firefighting, Jones didn’t go into the field immediately. He was attending a junior college in Greenville and stopped by a local fire station looking for advice.
“The elderly chief of the station told me: ‘Boy you need to stay in school,’ and reinforced to me that opportunities would be there later on.”
Jones followed the chief’s advice, receiving a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Presbyterian College and a master’s from the University of Georgia, in rehabilitation counseling. He began working with the Sumter School District 17 as a counselor for troubled youth with the South Carolina Department of Vocational Rehabilitation. In 1972, he developed the first Crisis Intervention Center on the junior high school level in the Southeast.
Six years earlier he had started volunteering with the Manning Fire Department. He credits fellow firefighters Sam Gamble, Homer Nash, E.L. Mitchum, Larry Williamson, Robbie DuRant, and George E. Callaway as being his role models.
“I remember very well when he first started volunteering back in 1966,” said Callaway. “He was always very dedicated to his job and the fire department as a whole.”
Larry Williamson said that Jones was the best at what he did, a good organizer and had a great ability when working with people. Williamson said that he worked with him in one of the first rescue squads that Jones helped create.
“I could write two books about him,” said Williamson. “Carter and I are very close. We’ve been to some tough places, seen some tough things, and it made us better people.”
In 1973 Jones was hired by the State’s Fire Marshal’s Office as a training specialist and Deputy State Fire Marshal. Around this same time he designed and supervised the first research project in the nation that dealt with panic behavior of blind people during a fire. He said that his education and training in psychology and counseling was an asset with this project, and his firefighting career as a whole.
“It helped me in dealing with people during the fires, and interviewing them in fire investigations,” he said. “Education is something I encourage for everyone.”
In 1977, Jones helped to organize the Clarendon County Fire Department, and served as its chief for 22 years. Current Chief Frances A. Richbourg described, in her nomination letter, how Jones helped to make the department more versatile after Hurricane Hugo.
“Carter could see that the fire department was actually a ‘Community Crisis Agency,’” she said. “Today, CCFD provides medical first responders, rescue technicians and hazardous materials technicians.”
Jones also contributed heavily to the subject of arson investigations. In his two years of work in that endeavor, arson rates in the county dropped from 45 to 4.5 percent. He also authored an arson awareness booklet and was featured in a Justice Department video dealing with church arsons. For his achievements, Jones was appointed by the governor to serve on the Arson Task Force and helped form a new investigative team for the South Carolina’s Fire Marshal’s Office.
Jones was the youngest member to be elected to the Executive Committee of the South Carolina State Firemen’s Association and served as its president from 1979-1980. He was also the youngest firefighter to be inducted into the South Carolina Fireman’s Association’s Hall of Fame in 1983, and was the recipient of the Association’s Citizenship Award.
Today, at 63, Jones continues to serve as a volunteer firefighter with the Clarendon County Fire Department, while working as Loss Control Director for The Bruner Agency in Summerton.
He is married to Mary Jo Jones, who was the first female firefighter in the county. They have two sons, Jonathan Jones, who is Battalion Chief for CCFD and Craig Jones who is in culinary school in North Charleston. They have two daughter-in-laws Denise Jones and Jae-Won Jones and two grandchildren, Cooper, 6, and Mary Louise, 5.
His son Jonathan, who has been with the fire department for 16 years, said that he remembers going to all the fires and always wanting to be a firefighter.
“I didn’t know there was a choice,” he said, with a smile. “Most boys want to be like their dad. Most also want to be firefighters. So it was only natural.”
