Don Love returns as Bethel fire chief

Firefighters picked a familiar face for their new chief.

Don Love, a Bethel Volunteer Fire Department member 49 years and former department chief, returns to the role in January. He will be sworn in Jan. 7.

Love served six years as chief until four years ago. He’s seen “a bunch of change” in the decades serving Lake Wylie, from an all-volunteer setup to paid positions during the week. He helped set up a special fire tax district to fund the department. He saw safety ratings improve. The original Bethel station is now a storage and training building with the new station sitting right beside it on Oakridge Road.

The biggest change in the time since he was last chief is community growth.

“More development means more work that has to be done,” he said. “We’ve got a pretty good department.”

More homes and businesses in the area mean more area to cover.

“There’s always changes,” he said. “And when times change, you have to change. We don’t want to regress.”

Michael Laws followed Love as chief four years ago, but resigned six months ago when he moved to McConnells. Chris Hybarger, assistant chief, took over until the Dec. 21 election. Hybarger is building a home in Smyrna.

“It was time to go out and find some land,” said Hybarger, who owns The Outdoor Shop in York. “We finally found a deal that was too good to pass up.”

Laws and Hybarger have plans to work with local stations at their new addresses. At Bethel, new officers along with Love are Paul Robinson as assistant chief and David Long as captain. Membership is up to about 60 firefighters.

Even with constant change in the area, and even with some paid force, one constant at Bethel remains the need for volunteers. Something as true now as it was when Love joined decades ago.

“We do need volunteers,” he said. “A big part of what goes on is volunteers.”

This story was originally published December 23, 2015 at 1:08 PM with the headline "Don Love returns as Bethel fire chief."