Two Cherokee County Fire & Emergency Services Chiefs Retire Danny West, who served as the Division Chief of Support Services and the EMS Chief over medical operations, retired on December 27, 2019. Chief West began serving the community when he was 12 years old with the junior firefighter program at Hickory Flat Volunteer Fire Department. After graduating from high school in 1990, West was hired by Oak Grove Fire Department as a firefighter/EMT. In 1994, Chief West attended paramedic school, becoming one of very few paramedics within the agency. Battalion Chief Gary Vaughan retired from the fire department on December 27, 2019. He was hired as a career firefighter on June 14, 1999. According to Assistant Fire Chief Eddie Robinson, Gary Vaughan was one of the founding members of the Holbrook Campground Volunteer Fire Department and also served as the departments fire chief for some time. Both Chiefs had more than 50 years of combined career service as career firefighters, plus numerous years as volunteer firefighters.