North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey plans to present Sampson County Fire Marshal Jerry Cashwell with the Commissioner’s Award during a retirement celebration in Clinton on Thursday, Aug. 26.
Commissioner Causey, who is the State Fire Marshal, will also present ceremonial grant checks, totaling more than $201,000, to 15 volunteer fire departments while in Sampson County. The checks are part of a statewide matching grant program providing more than $9.8 million to 554 volunteer fire departments.
Cashwell, who will be retiring at the end of the month, has served the North Carolina fire service for more than 37 years. He began in 1984 as a volunteer firefighter with the Bethany Fire Department in Cumberland County.
He has worked as a fire dispatcher in Cumberland County, as assistant fire marshal in Fayetteville and assistant fire marshal in Cumberland County. He was also fire marshal in Dunn before becoming assistant emergency services director and fire marshal for Sampson County.
Sampson County emergency service officials credit Cashwell with transforming the county’s fire inspection program, developing its fire investigations program and coordinating the county’s mutual aid system, which provides for fire coverage for a large incident while making sure other areas in the county have adequate fire coverage.
Here is Commissioner Causey’s public schedule for Thursday:
10 a.m. – Halls Fire & Rescue Department (Matching grant check presentations) 7730 Hobbton Highway, Clinton, N.C. 28328 1 p.m. – Sampson County Emergency Management (Commissioner’s Award) 107 Underwood St., Clinton, N.C. 28328