From staff reports
Burton Fire District Engineer/EMT Danny Lee has retired from the Burton Fire District after 25 years of service to the citizens of Beaufort County.
Lee, whose father was a Marine that retired from the Marine Corps Air Station, is a 1988 graduate of Battery Creek High School, and started his service as a volunteer firefighter in 1996 before being hired as a fulltime firefighter with the district in 1997. He has also previously served as a volunteer EMT with Beaufort County EMS, and in 1999, was recognized by the Beaufort Harmony Lodge for his work as a career firefighter and his hours of volunteer work with EMS, along with his enthusiasm for teaching local children about safety.
Engineer Lee was one of the first responders to the 2007 Blue Angels jet crash, and in 2018 he received the South Carolina Firefighters’ Association Meritorious Action award for his actions at a motor vehicle collision that involved multiple patients and a vehicle fire. In 2019, Lee volunteered for a South Carolina firefighter mobilization to search a Richland County landfill for the remains of a child as part of a homicide investigation. In almost two decades with the Burton Fire District, Engineer Lee did not take a single sick day
Danny and his wife Melina, who is also from Beaufort, have two sons, Shawn and Chris, and Chris is following in his father’s footsteps as a firefighter with the Sheldon Fire District.
“As one of our senior members, his knowledge and mentorship to younger firefighters was immeasurable, and his friendship and teamwork will be incredibly missed,” Burton Fire Chief Harry Rountree said in a news release. “When a child follows their father into the fire service, it says volumes about the love and commitment that father has for serving others. We are grateful to both Danny and his family for all their service and sacrifice to our community and citizens.”
