Hometown hero: Columbia County's firefighter has nearly 43 years of service

Columbia County Fire Operations Chief Danny Kuhlmann started volunteering with the department in 1981 after being inspired by a popular 1970s TV show. Nearly 43 years later, he remains with the department, continuing to serve the community and impart wisdom to the next generation of firefighters.

Kuhlmann, 60, of Martinez, started out as a teenage volunteer with Columbia County Fire Rescue. After a few years, he became a paid firefighter – starting a career that would span almost half a century.

"The fire service is very addicting," Kuhlmann said. "It was almost like a drug. In high school, I became a sous chef and worked a little bit of construction, but the fire service was just exciting. Day by day, you never knew what you were going to get. Helping people and serving the community was second to none to me."

A Jack of all trades

In May 1989, Kuhlmann became the youngest training officer in Georgia, going on to train Columbia County firefighters for 19 years. He now serves as one of the department's two assistant chiefs. He handles fire operations and special operations, overseeing six battalion chiefs.

"If they have a big fire, I go and assist them," Kuhlmann said. "If they have any personnel problems that they can't handle, I'll assist them with that. On the special operations side, I have the Dive Team, Hazardous Materials Team, Swift Water Team and Rope Team."

The Dive Team was started in 2001 under emergency management and Kuhlmann served on the team for several years. In 2017, the fire department took over the oversight of the team.

'There's no such thing as a fire department anymore'

Aside from water rescues and drowning recoveries, the Dive Team also recovers submerged evidence that law enforcement might need to make a case, according to Kuhlmann, who is still a certified rescue diver. The team averages between two and 10 calls per year.

"There is no such thing as a fire department anymore," he said. "All fire departments are what they call all-hazard departments. You call, we come; no matter what the problem is. About 80% of our calls are medical calls, so all of our personnel are trained as EMTs or paramedics and can respond quickly to somebody's house and provide advanced life support care until an ambulance can get there and transport them to the hospital."

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Staying put because he 'loved it so much'

It's unusual now for firefighters to remain at the same department for their entire career. Kuhlmann is the only person currently with the department who has worked under five different fire chiefs.

"[Columbia] County and the department have always been good to me," he said. "When I was growing up in the department, you had to die or get fired to get run off around here. We just loved it so much."

When asked about how many calls he thinks he has responded to during his time with Columbia County Fire Rescue, Kuhlmann said, "I couldn't tell you."

'I've gotten cats out of trees and delivered babies'

"When I first started, I used to track how many structure fires I went to and that just became an impossible task," he said. "I've been to thousands of residential and commercial fires, thousands of medical calls, maybe 25 or 50 serious hazardous materials calls, hundreds of little hazmat calls, and more than 100 dive calls. ... I've gotten cats out of trees and delivered babies."

He remembers one specific call in October 1990, which was later featured on TV.

"We did a water rescue on Hereford Farm Road which was picked up by [CBS] for the show, Rescue 911," he said. "When they heard about it, they came in and took footage of the floods and everything that were taking place back then."

Throughout Kuhlmann's career, he has not only helped Columbia County residents, but also others across the state. He was deployed to Catoosa County to assist with tornado relief, was sent to Atlanta twice to help with flooding and a parking deck collapse, and responded to south Georgia to help battle wildfires.

He was named the 1992 Firefighter of the Year and the 1994 Georgia Public Safety Educator of the Year.

While firefighters miss time with family and friends during 24-hour shifts, Kuhlmann said the two days off in between shifts, along with vacation days, allowed him to bring his children on hunting and fishing trips, and travel with the Boy Scouts – which he was involved with for 16 years.

"I hope my family is proud of me because there was a lot of crime in the neighborhood I grew up in," Kuhlmann said. "A lot of my friends made bad choices and went to prison and things like that. I just happened to to pick a career and choose a path that kept me out of trouble."

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: A look at one of Columbia County's most experienced firefighters