'It broke my heart:' Former deputy fire chief talks of separating from Stanley Fire Dept.

When Michael Hullett first saw the email he received from Stanley's town clerk, Olga Grishin, Monday night, he thought it was a joke.

The email stated that during the town council meeting that evening, the town voted to "reorganize" its public safety operations.

"Please immediately reach out to Chief Derek Summey, who is now the public safety director. Please contact Chief Summey prior to returning to the fire department building, to make arrangements to pick up personal items that you may need from the fire department," the email said.

Shortly after he received the email, Hullett was locked out of his town email account, and he later found that he was also locked out of the Stanley Fire Department, where he had been serving part-time as the town's deputy chief.

"I started making phone calls because I couldn't believe it," Hullett said.

Stanley restructured its fire department in a public meeting Monday evening, eliminating Hullett's position, along with that of the part-time chief, Eric Withers.

A cascade of resignations followed the announcement. Hullett said that some firefighters were told they would have to reapply for their jobs. Rather than reapplying, many turned in their gear Tuesday and Wednesday.

Hullett said that the original roster had nearly 40 members on it, and now there are probably four left.

"The original 39 were some of the most talented individuals from the fire service in this area," he said. "It broke my heart for the town."

Hullett, the 2023 North Carolina Firefighter of the Year, said that he wants Stanley to have a department filled with full-time firefighters, and he supports the move toward a full-time chief.

He said that had he been told in advance what was happening, he would have been happy to have stayed on and aided in the transition.

"Had the town sought that option… talked it out and had a plan in place for the transition, I think the current firefighters would all still be there," he said.

He said that he feels the decision was handled unprofessionally.

"The most unethical, unprofessional thing I have seen in a while," he said.

Hullett said that while the town has mutual aid agreements that will allow other area fire departments to respond to incidents in Stanley, it takes longer for fire trucks to arrive from other departments.

"(Mayor) Steven Denton and (town manager) Heath Jenkins and the rest of this town council, the blood's on your hands when an accident happens. We do not have an adequate fire department today to date," he said Thursday.

"You need to get this fixed… and I don't know how you can hire a full-time fire department overnight. It takes months to hire a full-time firefighter," he added.

Hullett is a second-generation career firefighter who works full-time in Charlotte. His father, James Hullett, known locally as "Lurch," worked at the Gastonia Fire Department, and as a child Hullett would eat lunch at the department with his father and other firefighters.

"From day one, I was hooked," Hullett said. "Some of those retired guys, I still talk to today… Those guys are my superheroes. I didn't look up to Superman and Batman. I looked up to the guys at the Gastonia Fire Department."

Hullett himself began work as a volunteer firefighter in 1994. He began work in Charlotte in 2005, and he will be eligible for retirement from his full-time job in two years. He said that he is proud of the work he and Withers have done in Stanley. They were constantly pushing the town for more funding.

They received tens of thousands of dollars of grants for equipment in 2015. The department had one of 200 certified recruitment and retention coordinators in the United States, and they have a partnership with Gaston County Schools that allowed students to participate in a program to become firefighters.

"We've accomplished a lot. We're getting a new truck this year, which the town graciously paid for," he said. "I applaud them for that. We have accomplished a lot of good things with this fire department."

He said that he is not looking to get his job back, but while nobody has said he was fired, that's what it feels like.

"It sounds completely like a termination to me, without using the word termination," he said.

Since the news of the restructuring broke, he said his phone has not stopped ringing. He's received calls, texts and social media messages from firefighters as far away as Hawaii.

"The response from all the firefighters rallying in support of myself and Chief Withers, it's so humbling for me," he said. "It means that we were doing the right thing."

Stanley town officials did not immediately respond to questions from the Gazette about Hullett.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Former deputy chief talks of separating from Stanley Fire Dept.