By Richard Thompson
The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
The city of Southaven has hired the successor to retiring Fire Chief Vernon McCammon: Mike Brackin.
Brackin’s hire was announced Friday. It comes with just two weeks left until Oct. 31, the last official day for McCammon, the first and only fire chief the city has ever known.
After 37 years, McCammon, 62, tendered his retirement in late July.
“It’s really an opportunity to come in behind a person who has done an outstanding job, not just for the fire department, but for the city,” said Brackin, 46, a deputy director at the Alabama Fire College in Tuscaloosa.
“He should be commended for what he’s done,” said Brackin.
Brackin will start his new, $73,000-a-year job on Nov. 13.
Southaven Mayor Greg Davis said he’ll ask the city’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen to make Deputy Chief Ron White the interim fire chief to cover the few days between McCammon’s departure and Brackin’s start date.
“We have a lot of confidence in Brackin to take over as fire chief,” said Davis. “But I don’t expect him to fill the shoes of Chief McCammon.”
Davis said that would be impossible to do. Indeed, McCammon started as a volunteer firefighter in 1969, eventually becoming chief in 1980, the year Southaven incorporated.
He has essentially grown the department into one of the largest in Mississippi with 89 employees, four engine companies, one truck, three ambulances and a 24-hour battalion commander. This fiscal year, 12 more firefighters will be added.
The department has a $7 million annual budget.
The task will be for Brackin to manage and continue to grow the department. Davis said he comes with the experience to do the job well.
Bracken has 25 years of fire service experience, beginning his career as a firefighter with the department in his hometown of Columbus, Miss., in 1981. He joined the Mississippi Fire Academy in 1987 as instructor supervisor. He joined the Arkansas Fire Academy in 2001 before taking his current position in Tuscaloosa in 2005.
Brackin is a University of Memphis graduate who earned a master’s degree in public policy and administration from Mississippi State University. He’s working on a doctorate in higher education from the University of Arkansas-Little Rock.
Brackin and his wife, Donna, have three adult children: Emily, Scott and Allison.