Tanner Phelps operates as one of the City of Greenville’s dedicated Fire and EMS responders, a career made possible by the skills he cultivated as one of Plymouth Volunteer Fire Department’s finest.
The son of Jerry Phelps and Monica Lane, Tanner grew up in the midst of a family involved and connected to Washington County’s emergency response.
“My dad and my brother are actually still a part of Plymouth Fire Department,” he says proudly. “My dad has been a part of Plymouth’s Volunteer Fire Department for just about 40 years and my brother Jared has been in since 2011 as well, so we’re all pretty well steeped into it as a family.”
Tanner became immersed in the lifestyle during his early formative years, quickly building up his skills with Plymouth Fire Department and delving into emergency medical services as well.
“I always knew I would end up getting into emergency response,” Phelps says. “I was on with Plymouth’s Fire Department when I was 14 years old back in 2011. Plymouth was really how I got my start, initially as a junior fireman until I could work my way up…those guys really helped pave the way to where I am now.”
Phelps later attended Beaufort Community College’s Fire Academy after graduating from Plymouth High School in 2015. Thanks to his affiliation and long background with Plymouth’s volunteer force, which sponsored his foray into Beaufort’s Academy, Phelps was planted firmly on the path he always dreamed of.
This also meant that he came into the fold well equipped to succeed while also bearing the knowledge afforded by this time with Washington County EMS.
“After I graduated I ended up attending Beaufort Community College’s Fire Academy from about the fall of 2015 until the spring of 2016,” he recalls. “But before that happened, I got my EMT during the last six months of high school. I started out with the Washington County EMS in November 2015. I worked there for about a year, while I was also doing my fire academy stuff, and then I got hired on with the City of Greenville on October 10, 2016.”
Once he was firmly a part of the city of Greenville’s response force, Phelps remained in Plymouth for another year before relocating to the city full-time.
These days Phelps gets to use everything he learned as a youngster as part of a much larger force in an often more challenging setting. As outlined on the Greenville’s official.gov website, Phelps is one of 161 members of the fire/rescue team spread across three individual work shifts in the internationally accredited department.
“Each shift is made up of 44 professionals that stand ready to serve 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” the website reads. “We have the support of 14 support staff positions… We serve the community through seven neighborhood-based fire/rescue stations. Being spread out through the city allows us to maintain a response time on average of seven minutes.”
Most notably, the multifaceted department is most proud of being able to provide both emergency response services for fire and medical emergencies...
