Cherokee County Fire Chief Tim Prather has announced he will be retiring from Cherokee County Fire & Emergency Services.
"As some of you know, I am now completing 35 years of service with Cherokee County Fire & Emergency Services," Prather said in a statement. "To put it into perspective, I have served our department over half my entire life."
It had been rumored over the last couple of years that he was considering the retirement. "It has really been hard for me to make the decision, identify a retirement date and have some kind of exit plan," he said in the statement. "It is bittersweet to announce that the time has come for me to retire from Cherokee County with the official retirement date of March 11." Prather has over 47 years of collective experience in fire service and was raised in a "firefighting family."