‘Hero’ firefighter of 40 years drowns saving woman on Georgia lake, officials say
When he wasn’t putting out fires, Ralph Jenkins’ family says you could find him out on the water.
“Fishing and boating is something he’s always done since he was younger,” his daughter Jennifer Kennedy told WRDW. “It was just something that stuck with him.”
And when he wasn’t on the water, fellow firefighters say Jenkins proved to be the “ultimate mentor” whose will to serve extended beyond the walls of the east Georgia station where he spent the last four decades.
Last weekend was no different when Columbia County officials say the veteran fire lieutenant jumped in after a woman who fell from a boat on Clarks Hill Lake near Augusta.
He never resurfaced.
The Augusta Fire Department confirmed Jenkins’ body was pulled from the lake Saturday. Augusta Interim Fire Chief Shaw Williams, Jr., called it a “tremendous loss” for the city and its firefighters.
“On behalf of the entire Augusta firefighting community, I am disheartened to report this crushing loss of one of our own,” Williams said in a statement. “Lt. Jenkins came from from a firefighting family, was known in the Department as a person who could be counted on for a good laugh, and served the people of Augusta, Georgia for 40 years.”
Crews with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources were called to the Lake Springs area around 5:45 p.m. on Friday after reports of a possible drowning, The Augusta Chronicle reported. They searched for Jenkins into the night and again on Saturday before a radar scan detected his body in 34 feet of water.
The Augusta fire community is remembering Jenkins as a loving, thoughtful leader who helped train the city’s next generation of firefighters. Lt. Nicholas Costello, who worked alongside Jenkins for 17 years, said he always pushed people to level up in their careers.
“He’s touched everybody on this department somehow, in some way,” Costello told WFXG. “Everybody wanted to work with Ralph Jenkins. [He’s] irreplaceable. Nobody will ever fill his shoes, ever.”
Retired Lt. Joey Smith said Jenkins had a competitive spirit, telling WJBF: “We would race to calls to see who could get there first.”
To others, Jenkins was a mentor, friend and father figure all in one.
“We are all brothers, we are all family,” Lt. Jonathan Guilfoyle told The Augusta Chronicle.
“We all have a relationship with each other that can’t be broken,” Guilfoyle continued. “For Ralph Jenkins, that was my father. Everyone knows, me and Ralph, that’s a father-son relationship.”
Jenkins began his career as a Richmond County firefighter in 1981 before the county and city departments consolidated, WFXG reported. A wreath and piece of his uniform now hang in the Station #10 break room to honor his legacy.
Family and friends also said they’re doing everything to keep Jenkins’ legacy alive.
“Augusta without my dad would be a city that has lost a hero,” Kennedy told WRDW.
Funeral arrangements haven’t been announced.
Authorities said the drowning remains under investigation.
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