The Abbeville County Fire Department announced the passing of Mr. Hobart “Hobie” Erickson, the oldest active firefighter in the state of South Carolina. He was 95 years old.
Erickson served as a first responder for over 65 years. His career started in 1965 in New Jersey. He later moved down south and joined the Donalds Fire Department more than 35 years ago where he once served as chief of the station.
FOX Carolina had the chance to interview Erickson on his 95th birthday back in January of 2022.
Outside of serving, Erickson told us he worked out for over an hour three times a week and worked at a golf course part-time. He joked and said he worked at the course to play free golf. “First of all, The Good Lord’s watching over me. He has been good to me. I have a good wife. And I have a good fire department here. All these guys take care of me. They’re always watching over me,” Erickson said in January. “As long as I can keep going, I’m going to keep going.”