A drop-in was held at Station # 19 Wednesday 15-March for Jeff Laney and Janet Laney who will both be retiring Friday 17-March. Firefighter-EMT Jeff Laney has served the Fire Service in Colleton County since the mid 1980s (38 years), originally serving as a volunteer with the former Colleton Rural Fire Dept. He filled every role in that department from Firefighter to Chief until Colleton Rural was incorporated into Fire-Rescue in 1994. He played big roles in the development of the county Fire-Rescue Department. He worked for the SC Fire Academy as an instructor and is responsible for training hundreds of firefighters throughout South Carolina. He designed the Auto Extrication and School Bus Extrication Courses in the early 1990s and much of the curriculum foundation he built is still in use today. He has worked full-time for the City of Walterboro Fire Dept and Fire-Rescue, most recently in the Logistics Division managing Fire-Rescue's warehouse and service center. His wife Janet, has served 32 years. She began as a volunteer in the Smoaks Community and helped staff the volunteer ambulance EMS operated in Smoaks in the early 1990s. Her passion for helping others continued as she became a Paramedic and Firefighter, leading to a full-time position with EMS. When EMS was incorporated into Fire-Rescue in 2004, Janet moved over as a cross-trained member of Fire-Rescue.
