By FireRescue1 Staff
CLOVER, S.C. —A group of firefighters threatened to leave the department after their longtime volunteer fire chief was not given the city’s first paid chief position.
WSOC TV reported that Clover firefighters expressed their frustration that town officials did not give Chief Charlie Love a job as the first paid fire chief in the town.
“With his 16 years as chief and 20 as a firefighter, he’s put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this town,” former firefighter Ray Bayly said.
Clover officials are instead expected to give the job to retired Gastonia Fire Department Chief Billy Thompson.
“My question is, ‘Will you all be able to lay your head down at night? Did you all do the right thing?’” Love said.
Firefighters said they will quit if the town does not reconsider their decision to hire Thompson. Bayly also started a petition to give the job to Love, which already has nearly 800 signatures.
Town Manager Allison Harvey said she never told Love he would be given the job, but Love said he was told that the job would be offered to him.
“I never told him he’d be offered the job. Chief Love applied like other applicants and was interviewed for the position,” Harvey said.
Officials are reaching out to volunteer departments in neighboring areas to form a plan in case Clover firefighters leave the department.