Jim Erwin's work with EMA puts him where he believes he is supposed to be

The Unicoi County Emergency Management Agency's Jim Erwin became a first responder to help people, and he's reaped the ultimate reward.The 53-year-old Erwin has been a first responder in some capacity since he volunteered with the Erwin Fire Department when he was 16.He's seen the young die and the hysterical survive. And he's essentially seen a 14-month-old come to life right before his eyes.A potential drowning was averted, Erwin said, by the charity of God."I heard the call come out for an ambulance, and I was actually working my part-time job at the Unicoi Police Department at that time and just started heading the other way responding, and we met in the middle of the highway," Erwin said. "I stopped, and they stopped, and the momma just handed me the baby, and I did an assessment and did a few things — CPR — and the baby started breathing fine. It was just the grace of God. I mean, he just put me in the right place at the right time."It wasn't the first time Erwin helped save a life. An 82-year-old man got separated from his grandson on a cold December evening on Unaka Mountain when Erwin was bear hunting in the early 1990s.When Erwin and his hunting buddies, Ivan Washburn and Sam McNabb, saw the boy still waiting alone at the vehicle perhaps 90 minutes later, they all but knew the elderly man was in distress.So Erwin and Washburn set out to find the man."Me and Ivan Washburn — a city firefighter now — stayed with him all night, and Sam McNabb went down to Rock Creek Park and brought in a rescue team below us," Erwin said. "They had to actually cut a trail all the way up to where we were at, up in a little hollow, below some rock cliffs. Needless to say, it was pretty cold that night. The crazy part was — us being survivalists — neither one of us had a lighter on us because we weren't anticipating having to do that."But we had radios on us. That was before cellphones, but we had radios on us for communication. But it was so cold that it jerked the sap out of those batteries like within an hour."The man was shivering and disoriented when the bear hunters found him."We were up in there for several hours," Erwin said. "It was like 3 o'clock in the morning or 4 o'clock in the morning before the rescue team got up to us. I had taken my coveralls and given 'em to this older gentleman to get him warm, and we kind of covered up in some leaves to stay warm. And then they got there, and we started a fire, and then we actually waited it out until the next morning way after daylight — till the man could kind of walk out when you could see and make it a lot easier. That was my night of spending the night in the wilderness on Unaka Mountain."Erwin has also seen Unaka Mountain take lives at Red Fork Falls. The Nolichucky River can be as unforgiving."Most of the time when we're on the Nolichucky, it's a body recovery," Erwin said. "I've brought a lot of bodies out."Erwin isn't the least bit confounded when asked why he was drawn to such an emotionally grueling line of work."The reward that I've found since I got in this at the age of 16 is helping people," he said. "When people call emergency services, they're having probably one of the worst days of their lives. If you can assist them, help them make it any better, then you've done what you're put there to do. Throughout my career, I owe it to God for putting me in the right place at the right time to do what I've got to do."A couple of times, He's put me in the right place to save some lives. The last one was that little baby last year. He just put me in right place at the right time, and I got that little baby back to breathing. I couldn't tell you how or what I did, but training and everything kicked in, and it worked out great. That little baby's doing great today."Erwin said a great support system at home is necessary to effectively do his job.For him, that support comes from his wife, Tosha."She worked for Department of Children's Services for 25 years and just recently changed over to probation and parole," Erwin said. "So she carries a gun and badge now like I do. I understood her job. I understand what she goes through. And then she understands me and is very, very supportive."Former Unicoi County EMA Director Ed Herndon was a big supporter of Erwin."He was someone I looked up to," Erwin said. "Ed was the emergency management director for 30-some years. And in 2009, they told him he had to name an assistant. So he named me as his assistant."So unofficially, I was working at the sheriff's department at that time. So I helped him whenever he needed help."Erwin worked a couple of other jobs, including private security."And then when Ed got sick and passed away in 2020, I kind of stepped in and filled the position until they could hire somebody," Erwin said. "I got asked to apply. I was working a good job, never planned on leaving. I told my wife we'd just pray about it and see what happens. And next thing I know, I applied for it and got hired as the county EMA director/medical death investigator, and all my years of working with volunteer fire departments, search and rescue investigations and stuff kind of just fit right into this job, you know, just kind of helping manage emergencies and resources and logistics and then doing death investigations when someone passes away in the county. … I believe I'm where I'm supposed to be."