New fire chief sworn in on Hilton Head Island

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, Sc. (WTOC) - There’s a new fire chief on Hilton Head Island. Chris Blankeship has been with the town’s fire rescue for over two decades.

”I’m a little overwhelmed, there’s a lot of people here. It just shows I have great support and this proves to me that hopefully I’m the right guy for the job,” said Chief Blankenship.

The new chief’s journey to this new role has been a long one, loyal to this department.

”I started here as a college intern in the summer of 2001 with fire rescue, went back finished my senior year of college, and was brought on full time in may of 2002,” said Chief Blankenship.

Now that he’s in the position, his focus is set on improving what he says is an already effective department.

”Going forward over the next five years I’m going to be looking to evaluate our response model and how can we better serve our public and our visitors every day.”

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