New job is homecoming for York County’s Emergency Management director

Chuck Haynes hasn’t started work yet in York County, but he already feels like he’s coming home.

Haynes was introduced this week as the new director of the county’s Emergency Management office, filling a vacancy that has existed since longtime director Cotton Howell retired at the end of June. Since Howell’s retirement, county public safety communications director Gary Loflin has been interim emergency management director.

Haynes, who starts his new job on Monday, is currently the head of Emergency Management in Pickens County. Before that, the Cheraw native attended Winthrop University, served with the Rock Hill Fire Department, and held a post in the state’s Emergency Management office that oversaw York and neighboring counties from his home in Fort Mill.

He has been with Pickens County since 2011, but when Howell’s retirement created the opportunity for Haynes and his young family to move back to York County, he jumped at the chance.

“Even when you move away, you always try to keep up with home,” Haynes said from his office in Pickens, where he’s finishing his last week. “I can’t speak highly enough of the emergency responders they have ... even the faith-based groups that come out to respond to disasters. It’s a great community.”

Anna Moore, the deputy county manager who oversaw the search for a new emergency management director, cited both Haynes’ experience at the state and local level and his knowledge of York County, calling him “a good hire.”

When he was introduced to the York County Council on Monday, Haynes half-joked about his hopes for the coming years.

“My ultimate goal is to have a long and uneventful career in York County,” he said. “But you’ve got to be prepared for the worst.”

Haynes began that preparation at 16, when he started volunteering at his local fire station in Chesterfield County. He became a certified emergency medical technician at 18, and during his time at Winthrop, he commuted home on weekends to volunteer as a first responder.

He went on to volunteer locally with Piedmont Medical Center’s EMS and the Riverview Fire Department, before finishing school with a degree in business administration.

At the same time, Haynes met his future wife, Kate, a kindergarten teacher. The couple now has a 4-year-old son and a second child due in April.

After graduation, Haynes worked for five years in the Rock Hill Fire Department until 2006 – not in administration or as a battalion chief, but as a front-line firefighter and engineer. He finished his career there driving a truck out of Station No. 5 near the Rock Hill Galleria.

“I’m happy to see him get the job,” said Rock Hill deputy fire chief Mark Simmons, who served with Haynes. “I’m sure it will help that he has experience with firefighting. That will help with all the fire departments in the county.”

At the same time he was fighting fires, Haynes earned a master’s degree in fire and emergency management administration. After he left the fire department, he went to work in Fort Mill as a regional manager with the S.C. Emergency Management Division, coordinating state and local resources across seven counties. In all, Haynes spent 15 years living and working in York County.

“That experience was important,” Moore said. “This is not a totally new location for him.”

Ultimately, Haynes wanted to get back on the local front lines when the Emergency Management job came open in Pickens County.

“I enjoy local government,” he said. “When I had the opportunity to come to Pickens County, I felt like I could work closer to the people.”

Even while he was away, though, Haynes maintained his York County ties. He and his family have already found a new place to live in Fort Mill.

“I don’t have an agenda,” he said. “My goal is to take what Cotton built over 30 years and continue to build on it, so that the county is prepared for a disaster and so the community is prepared.

“If that’s all I do, that will be an accomplishment.”

This story was originally published March 17, 2015 at 4:29 PM with the headline "New job is homecoming for York County’s Emergency Management director."