TIFTON — Bobby Bennett brings over 20 years of experience with him as he begins his tenure as the new city fire chief.

Bennett started his career by volunteering for the county in the early 90s in the Harding community. He realized that he liked it and wanted to pursue it as a career path.

He began volunteering with the city soon after.

“Once the city had some openings I applied,” Bennett said, and he was hired February 12, 1996.

“Knowing that the only way to get better was to go to school and learn as much as I could, so I never quit going to school and took class after class. I basically lived at the Georgia Fire Academy,” he said.

“It’s like I tell a lot of the younger guys,” he said. “You can’t put a price tag on knowledge. You may not get paid for it now but one day it could pay off, and lo and behold here we are.”

He spent 21 years with the Tifton Fire Department before achieving the rank of fire chief.

Bennett said that after former chief Mike Coleman left the department, all of the captains got together and it was agreed that he would take on the role of interim fire chief.

“I had their blessing, which is always a good thing,” he said.

He was interim fire chief for two months, which let him make sure the job was what he really wanted to do, since it would mean giving up his 16 year job as grounds director and athletic facilities director for the Tift County School System.

“It was a hard thing because I love both jobs and did them for a long time, but I truly believed that God would put me where I needed to be, and the fire chief’s position was it,” he said.

He said that it was an honor to be here and that any fixes or changes that would take place would have to be because of the team effort of the entire fire department.

He wants the department to continue “being the best”: providing the community with what they expect, protecting lives and property, and keeping the ISO rating where it needs to be.

“We’ve been able to achieve that goal and I want to make sure we continue moving forward,” he said.

“I want to be successful. I want the fire department to be successful. I want every guy here to be successful” he said, “and if we’re successful the community gains from it.