North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey has honored an 18-year-old Lincoln County Eagle Scout candidate who designed and constructed a sorely-needed dryer for his local fire department.
Commissioner Causey, who is also the State Fire Marshal, presented the Commissioner’s Award to Joshua David Mays during a visit to the South Fork Volunteer Fire Department on Monday, Sept. 27. The South Fork Volunteer Fire Department is located at 2736 Long Shoals Road in Lincolnton.
Mays, who recently turned 18, is a senior at Long Shoals Wesleyan Academy. He has been a junior firefighter at the South Fork Volunteer Fire Department since October 2019. He is currently taking fire and rescue training classes through Gaston College and plans to attend Liberty University after graduating from high school.
Equipment to launder firefighters’ turnout gear has become increasingly important to fire departments because of the health risks associated with toxins on turnout gear. After doing a lot of research, Mays obtained sponsors for the materials needed to build the dryer.
The dryer was delivered to the fire department on June 12. It has cut gear drying time down from days to hours.