Firefighting’s in the family for Horry County’s new chief

Joey Tanner’s ascension through the firefighting ranks seems inevitable.

His grandfather was chief of the Johnsonville Fire District. When he retired, Tanner’s father took the job, which he still holds. Joey Tanner’s brother is a deputy chief in Florence.

“We’re kind of working in the fire service our whole career,” the 52-year-old Tanner said Friday, hours after being announced as Horry County Fire Rescue’s newest chief.

Tanner comes to Horry from Georgetown, where he served as the city’s fire chief for the last 16 years. His first day in the new job will be Dec. 7.

“I look at Horry County as a challenge,” he said. “There’s a lot of things going on in Horry County, a lot of growth happening. ... The fire department has a good reputation. It does a lot of good things in the community and I just want to be a part of that.”

Tanner’s move also reunites him with County Administrator Chris Eldridge, who worked with Tanner when Eldridge was Georgetown’s city administrator.

“Our past relationship will be beneficial,” Tanner said. “I understand what he’s looking for and he understands me.”

Eldridge praised the new chief in a press release announcing his hiring.

“He possesses all of the qualities that we were looking for to be part of our leadership team,” the administrator said. “Tanner comes to Horry County with an understanding of our area and the ongoing challenges we face as a growing community. He brings the strong leadership and management skills needed to provide effective fire/rescue services to our citizens and will be instrumental in collaborating with internal and external departments/agencies.”

Tanner’s predecessor, Fred Crosby, stepped down in May after less than three years on the job. In the months leading up to his departure, Crosby’s relationship with Eldridge grew strained.

Eldridge suspended Crosby for a week without pay in December for inefficient management and for fostering discord among his supervisors and coworkers, according to a county disciplinary report.

Eldridge highlighted blogs, emails and other “rumor control” messages to staff in the disciplinary report for the suspension.

The report accused Crosby of “failing to properly follow your chain of command to the Administrator with regard to various issues, engaging in unauthorized communications to staff concerning ‘brown outs’ and propay and initiating direct communications with County Council without consulting or informing Administrator.”

A brown out is a situation where a fire chief temporarily closes a station because there aren’t enough people to staff it.

Crosby has never responded publicly to Eldridge’s complaints. In the employee comment section of the disciplinary report, he wrote “I respectfully disagree with the assumptions in this. I do believe I have failed to communicate adequately and will modify my actions.”

Along with those challenges, the department was sued multiple times by current or former firefighters under Crosby’s short watch. The agency also saw turnover in its administrative staff this year.

When asked about his goals for the agency, Tanner said he’s still hammering those out with Eldridge. He said he has much to learn about the organization.

“The first thing that I’ve got to do is I need to get in there and talk to everyone and kind of see what the issues are,” he said. “I don’t think anyone has a silver bullet, but you have to see first what the issues are and then find ways to help address those issues.”

Tanner, who will be paid $105,000 a year, has 34 years of fire service experience, dating back to his days as a teenage volunteer in Johnsonville. As chief, Tanner said he plans to maintain open lines of communication with the staff and the community, as well as other agencies in the county.

“The biggest goal is to keep everyone safe,” he said. “Keep all the citizens safe and keep all the employees and all the firefighters safe.”

This story was originally published November 6, 2015 at 2:49 PM with the headline "Firefighting’s in the family for Horry County’s new chief."