After 26 years as a member of the Georgetown City Fire Department, Bill Johnson — the department’s assistant chief, also known as “the voice of Georgetown” — has retired.

It was news that has been difficult to talk about by Chief Joey Tanner because the two have worked together during Johnson’s entire time at the department.

“He started as a firefighter. We were on the same shift. I started in 1984 and he started in 1986,” Tanner said. “There was hardly a day that went by that we did not talk. There were so many day to day things he did. He has been a mentor to a lot of guys. He was a great command officer. I cannot think of words to describe what he meant to the department and to me personally.”

Johnson moved to Georgetown in the early 1980s to work at a radio station before being hired at the fire department.

Read more in Wednesday's Georgetown Times.