Female president to run Fayette firefighters group

By CHRISTINE HAINES

chaines@yourmvi.com

The Fayette County Firefighters’ 82nd-83rd annual Convention ended Saturday with the installation of officers for the coming year.

Sherri Eley moved from the first vice president’s position into the top slot as president, the second woman to hold the top post in the Fayette County fire service since the organization was founded.

“My sister-in-law, Debbie Parshall, was the first female president in 2011-12,” Eley said.

Both women are married to firefighters as well as being firefighters themselves. Eley joined the fire service long before meeting her husband, Fayette City Fire Chief Jim Eley.

“I’ve been in the service over 30 years,” she said. “I started as a  junior down in Greenock, Elizabeth Township. It wasn’t family down there, it was interest.”

Eley was certified as an emergency medical technician when she was 16 years old and has been an EMT ever since. She is also an active firefighter.

“I enjoy both. You get the satisfaction of helping people whether it’s on the fire side or the EMT side,” Eley said.

She also enjoys being involved with the county association, which she sees as beneficial to all the departments in the county.

“I think the importance of the association is getting the information out,” she said. “We have quite a few people involved on the state level, so we get state information out to the local level.”

While all of the departments in the county are members of the association, not all send representatives to the association meetings. Eley said participation is important so departments don’t miss out on state grants and other beneficial programs.

“Our goal is to maintain, if not increase, our status in getting more companies involved in the association,” she said. “All of the departments belong, but we’d like to see more at our meetings.” 

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