By Malynda Fulton

The Valdosta Daily Times

VALDOSTA — Lt. Dean Cone served his last day as a firefighter with the Valdosta Fire Department Friday, May 29, after 30 years of service. Looking back over the years, Cone reflected on several experiences he faced as a firefighter, the things he will miss most and his biggest inspiration for becoming a firefighter — his father.

Dean Cone was raised in Valdosta by his parents, the late Curtis J. Cone and Blanche Hogan. However, he practically grew up at the Valdosta Fire Department. His father served as assistant fire chief for some decades.

Cone spent so much time at the fire stations during his childhood, he would help firefighters when they responded to different calls.

“I wasn’t really supposed to,” Cone said. “However, I did go out on calls with my dad and help the men load hoses. It made me feel like I was doing a big job.”

Cone remembers being “drawn to all the people” who worked at the fire stations.

“I had a bunch of daddies,” he said.

Cone attended Valdosta City Schools and graduated from Valdosta High School. He decided to become a firefighter in January 1979 at age 23.

When asked what influenced his decision to follow in his father’s footsteps, Cone replied, “I observed my father’s dedication to the job and it had been a good living for him. And like every other child, when I was little I wanted to be a fireman.”

Unlike the formal training the firefighters receive now, Cone said that firefighters mostly went through on-the-job training when he started.

“We had several drills a day and inside classes.”

The training he received, as well as the experience he gained from going out on calls with his father, helped him swing into action easily during his first-ever call.“The first fire I ever responded to was on a street that doesn’t exist anymore called Branch Street Lane,” Cone said. “Back then we rode on the back of the trucks instead of inside them. That night I was the only one on the back of the truck. The driver and I responded to the fire and I extinguished it successfully. It felt good to know that the boss was comfortable enough to send me out on a call like that by myself.”

Cone was promoted to driver in 1982. He became a lieutenant in the early 1990s. Cone was also one of the first EMTs and paramedics at South Georgia Medical Center, and was on the original Hazmat team in Valdosta.