Darlington Fire Dept. earns Title for Third Straight Year
(L-R): Lt. AJ Cox and Deputy Fire Chief Charles Bailey accept the 2025 Fire Safe Community designation.
The City of Darlington has been named a “Fire Safe Community” by Fire Safe South Carolina for the third consecutive year, an honor presented to the Darlington Fire Department during the SC Fire-Rescue Conference in Myrtle Beach on June 12.
This year’s campaign was led by Deputy Fire Chief Charles Bailey, Assistant Fire Chief Brandon Maloch and Lt. AJ Cox, who focused the department’s efforts on educating residents about fire prevention, vigilance and emergency response.
“Our entire department came together and worked really hard on implementing the Fire Safe South Carolina program,” said Fire Chief Pat Cavanaugh. “I’m appreciative of the leadership within the Darlington Fire Department and everyone’s dedicated passion to making the City of Darlington a safer community.”
Efforts included home fire safety talks, in-home safety visits and smoke alarm installations carried out in partnership with the American Red Cross and South Carolina State Fire. Lt. Cox also visited Darlington County School District schools to teach students about fire safety.
The department said data gathered during the campaign supports its work with the National Emergency Response Information System, which uses geographic information systems for training.
Hundreds of fire stations statewide attended the conference, where Darlington firefighters also took part in fire-rescue classes and networking sessions.
Fire Safe South Carolina began naming communities in 2019; Darlington has earned the designation every year since the 2023-2024 campaign. The program is a partnership of the S.C. State Firefighters’ Association, S.C. State Association of Fire Chiefs, S.C. Fire Marshal Association, S.C. Chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators and the S.C. Office of State Fire Marshal.
The Darlington Fire Department has served the city since 1880. More information is available at cityofdarlington.com/fire-department or by calling 843-398-4013.