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Jim McMahan has retired from Bethany Fire Protection District. He is pictured with the truck that was purchased when he served as Fire Chief.

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Troy Yokley recently retired from Bethany Fire Protection District. He was known as the department “chef.”

•January 5, 2022•
by Crystal Reed
NP Writer

Bethany Fire Protection District

recently recognized three of their members who are retiring from the department, Jim McMahan, Tom Rucker and Troy Yokley.
McMahan came to the department in 1997. He served with the department for many years before holding the position of fire chief in the years 2013 through 2017. Over the years, the district has had countless cleanup days where the bays and trucks get cleaned, and nine times out of 10 he was there. After retiring as fire chief, he opted to stay on as a volunteer. He retired at the end of 2020 but returned in 2021 when response numbers were down and something as simple as a driver was needed.

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Tom Rucker recently retired from the Bethany Fire Protection District. After retiring as Fire Chief he came back as a volunteer.

Tom Rucker came to the department in 1988. He joined the department and continued his education in EMS and became an EMT. Rucker has advanced through the ranks of the department from FF/EMT, Fire Lieutenant, Fire Captain, Assistant Fire Chief and then Fire Chief from 2018 to 2019. He then retired from the position but didn’t want to retire from the department. Rucker has seen all but one of the department’s vehicles purchased and was on the committee for most of the apparatus currently in service.
Troy Yokley came to Bethany Fire in 2014. He was the department “chef.” When the department would have fundraisers that involved burgers, that was Yokley’s pride and joy. A couple months after he joined the fire department, his daughter tragically passed away in an accident. Troy and his wife Ella created the Chalyssa Yokley Foundation whereby a gift is presented to the firefighter and EMT of the year within the department.[/s2If]