By Mark Price
The Charlotte Observer
NASH COUNTY, N.C. — The director of emergency medical services for Nash County drowned Saturday in waters along North Carolina’s Crystal Coast, officials say.
It happened near the Shackleford Banks, a barrier island at the southern end of Cape Lookout National Seashore.
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“Beaufort Fire Department responded to a report of a drowning. ... The individual involved was later identified as 60-year-old Dale Griffin of Nash County,” the Town of Beaufort reported in an Aug. 9 news release.
“Firefighters recovered Griffin from the water and immediately initiated resuscitation efforts. Responding crews from Harkers Island also assisted with the rescue and resuscitation operation. Despite the efforts of the responding personnel, Griffin was pronounced deceased shortly thereafter.”
Griffin is well known in the state as “a longtime member and leader within the emergency services community,” town officials said.
He joined Nash County EMS as a paramedic in 1988 and served as a training program manager and operations officer before assuming the role of director in 2023, according to his LinkedIn page.
Nash County EMS posted a tribute to Griffin on Sunday, noting he was a husband and father of two.
“Director Griffin was far more than the title he carried. He was a paramedic, a leader, a mentor, a friend, and a steady presence to generations of EMS professionals,” Nash County EMS wrote.
“He dedicated his life to caring for others and to making Nash County EMS a department its employees and community could be proud of. ... His impact cannot be measured simply in years of service, calls answered, or accomplishments. It lives on in the people he mentored, the careers he helped shape, the patients whose lives he touched, and the department he devoted so much of himself to.”
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