DFD names Rheuark and Abbott Firefighters of the Year
At left, Darlington Fire Department 2016 Firefighter of the Year Andrew Rheuark. At right, Darlington Fire Department 2016 Volunteer Firefighter of the Year Steve Abbott.
Photos by Samantha Lyles
By Samantha Lyles, Staff Writer, slyles@newsandpress.net
The City of Darlington Fire Department has honored two of its members for their outstanding service during 2016, naming Andrew Rheuark as Firefighter of the Year and Steve Abbott as Volunteer Firefighter of the Year.
Rheuark began his career in the fire service at the age of nineteen, volunteering three years with the Darlington County Fire District, then hiring on to the DFD six years ago. He’s keeping up a family tradition set by his father and grandfather, who both served with Palmetto Rural Fire District while Andy was growing up. He recalls riding to fire scenes with his dad, attending workshops and classes with current DFD Chief Pat Cavanaugh, and being so fascinated by the work that he never even considered another job.
“I just wanted to follow in their footsteps, I reckon,” says Rheuark. “As soon as I took my first class, I knew it was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
Rheuark now serves full time with the DFD as a firefighter, and says he loves nearly every aspect of the job, from the camaraderie of the firehouse to the challenging work of fighting and preventing fires.
“The morale here is great, and I love helping the community out and trying to keep the city safe,” says Rheuark.
He credits Chief Cavanaugh with creating a warm and welcoming vibe at the department, making the firefighters and their loved ones feel like part of one large family.
“It’s family oriented. My wife and kids can come see me anytime they want,” says Rheuark, noting that this family atmosphere expanded to encompass the whole of Darlington after Hurricane Matthew struck in October.
With widespread power outages and multiple downed trees across the city, the DFD provided a generator-powered oasis where folks could come and charge their cellphones, pick up some ice, enjoy a meal, and even take medical breathing treatments while firefighters worked around the clock clearing away storm debris so power crews could work on the lines.
“(The fire station) was pretty much everybody’s house for about four days,” Rheuark says. “We were scrounging food everywhere we could and trying to feed everybody’s families. We were trying to help out however we could.”
The Darlington Fire Department members vote each fall for one of their own to be named Firefighter of the Year, and Chief Cavanaugh says Rheuark earned the votes of his peers by being reliable, competent, and working hard whether he’s on the clock or off duty.
“He’s one of these kids where anytime we need something, he’s there. Overtime? He’s there. Two in the morning? He’s there. He stays busy all the time. You never go downstairs and see him sitting there playing on his phone,” says Cavanaugh. “He represents himself and the department really well. There’s no negativity, and he’s been dedicated to this place since the first day he walked in the door.”
Volunteer Firefighter of the Year Steve Abbott won the 2016 Drake-Beckham Award for evincing many of those same qualities. Chief Cavanaugh describes the
“If we leave out at two in the morning on a call, Steve is the first one to get out of bed and come down here and let us know the station is covered. If there’s a structure fire, he’s the first one here to grab the second truck – which is very important – and he does it for nothing,” says Cavanaugh. “He’s our treasurer. He keeps the checkbook, and he keeps everybody in line with the finances.”
Abbott entered the fire and rescue service through a friendship with his Sunday School teacher, DFD Chief Leon Beckham. At sixteen, Abbott became the youngest EMT in South Carolina and volunteered with the Darlington Rescue Squad. Beckham wanted to bring him into the DFD when he turned eighteen, but a secret blackball vote kept Abbott from hiring on full time. He worked as a substitute until 1979, and has stuck with the department as a firefighter and part-time volunteer ever since.
Though health problems have occasionally sidelined him, Abbott has battled back each time to resume his place at the fire station, doing the job he clearly loves.
“The fire service is a brotherhood. Nowadays with women on the department, it’s still a brotherhood. It’s a family. You work with a person for twenty-four hours, they become family. No matter what, we cover each others’ back,” says Abbott.
Manning the second truck on scene at structure fires, Abbott often sees patterns unfolding and offers counsel to keep the operation running smoothly and keep inexperienced volunteers from making critical errors.
“When you get on a fire scene, sometimes you get into a panic mode and make mistakes. But if you can stop and take a deep breath and start again, then you can channel that adrenaline like you’re supposed to,” says Abbott.
With nearly forty years of active firefighting under his belt, Abbott has witnessed several devastating fires – like the Park Hotel blaze in November of 1968 – and fought many more. He says that the fire service’s priority list places “protecting life” at the top, and when firemen are unable to pull everyone out alive, the loss is felt deeply and for many years.
“I can’t even remember how many people I’ve seen that have died in fires,” says Abbott, while noting that fire deaths have been greatly curbed by modern safety equipment and proactive community education by fire departments. “Now you have smoke detectors, and the smoke detector blitz (where fire departments install free detectors in at-risk communities) is something I wish we’d had a long time ago. It definitely would have saved lives.”
Cavanaugh says that Abbott’s experience is valued highly. He mentors younger firefighters, and even the chief himself listens up when the wizened fireman offers advice or criticism.
“He’s one of the elders, and he can come to me and say, “Look here, young’un. You’re messing up.” So I look up to him. He’s there for everybody,” says Cavanaugh.