Vidalia's new fire chief views department by Joey Martin - posted Wednesday, October 24th, 2012 @ 12:45 pm  E-mail Story |  Print Story  When Johnny Evans graduated from high school and joined the Navy at the age of 17, he had no idea what he wanted to do with his future. The Navy solved that problem pretty quickly. "I didn't know what field I wanted to go into, so I was talking with a few other guys and we decided to try damage control and went into firefighting," Evans told the Vidalia Lions Club on October 17. "I loved it." Evans, who will be 43 later this year, joined the Vidalia Fire Department at the age of 21 and now serves as its fire chief, replacing Jack Langston, who retired two months ago. "I actually left the fire department for a year as a captain and had to start all over again," Evans said. "I went from firefighter to lieutenant and back to captain." "They could not have picked a better person to be fire chief," Vidalia assistant fire chief Doug Honeycutt said of Evans. Evans said he is honored to be Vidalia's fire chief. "I'm a people person," he said, "I like to be around the guys. It was a big adjustment not spending a shift with them and going home at four." "We have to make him leave sometimes," said Honeycutt, who has been with the Vidalia Fire Department for 15 years. "He is very knowledgeable as a firefighter and gets the best our of everybody. He is very respected. You can't ask a person to risk their live to save somebody unless you have their respect. Everybody is willing to give a little extra for Johnny." For the full story, subscribe to the The Concordia Sentinel's NEW E-Edition!