Cherokee County
Fire & Emergency Services
Fire & Emergency Services
Cherokee County Fire & Emergency Services revealed new street signs today at the Cherokee County Fire Training Complex in Holly Springs, GA. The unveiling ceremony took place during the fire department’s first live fire training exercise for a new incident command system known as Blue Card Command.
The street signs honor the legacy of Justin and Amber Hicks who were tragically killed last year in their Cobb County home. Justin began serving as a firefighter with Cherokee County in 2015 and held the rank of Fire Apparatus Operator/Paramedic. The new street names at the training center include Justin Walk, Hicks Circle, Amber Walk, and Jacob Avenue. Additionally, the buildings on the training grounds will be numbered with significant dates from Justin and Amber’s lives such as their birthdays and wedding anniversary. The street signs and building numbers will be used to dispatch training incidents around the training complex for years to come.
“We are excited to finally unveil these signs and begin dispatching training scenarios using them.” said Fire Chief Eddie Robinson at the ceremony today. “I look forward to what the fire department has in store for the future, and I can assure you that Justin, Amber, and Jacob will never, ever, be forgotten by the members of this organization.”
“We’ve been excited about implementing the Blue Card Command System for a long time and this was the perfect opportunity to honor Justin and Amber” said Deputy Chief of Operations Kevin Lanier.
Shane West, Deputy Chief of Support Services, stated “There’s a saying that goes around that says, ‘it’s worth it’ and we believe that everyone’s life is worth it. This communications model will allow us to continue to be an aggressive and safer fire department moving into the future.” He went on to say “After the tragedy that occurred to Amber and Justin, we have had several ideas of ways to honor them. We are excited to have these signs in place to show support for Jacob and memorialize Amber and Justin.”
The sign was unveiled by Mark Boggs, Amber’s father, from the bucket of Truck 11. He was accompanied by FAO Tyler Davidson and Lt. David Miller, friends of Justin and Amber Hicks.
The live fire training scenarios that took place today were the first of their kind for Cherokee County. Over the past two years, CCFES has been training its members on the Blue Card Command system which standardizes local incident operations. This system helps incident commanders with communications on the fireground and helps them to make better decisions, in an organized fashion, for the safety of the citizens and firefighters.
Lieutenants, Captains, and Chiefs within the organization have completed certification in Blue Card Command. The certification course consisted of a fifty-hour online class followed by a week-long classroom simulation. Today, firefighters of all ranks took their next step in the implementation process for this program by applying what they have learned into a hands-on, live-fire scenario in the department’s burn building. Over the next few weeks, all CCFES personnel will attend this training so that we can fully implement this program in field operations this fall.