ELIZABETHTOWN — During the Monday night meeting of the Bladen County Commissioners, County Manager Greg Martin made the announcements of the selection of Bradley Kinlaw as the Bladen County Emergency Management director/fire marshal and Jeanene Green has been selected as Emergency Services director.

Each of these positions were held by former Emergency Management Director Mitchell Byrd. 

Kinlaw, 30, has been involved in service to Bladen County since he was 16 when he joined Libson Fire Department. He has served in various roles, including chief of White Lake Water Rescue and assistant chief of the Elizabethtown Fire Department. He has worked the past 10 years as quality control supervisor at West Fraser Sawmill In Riegelwood. 

Green, 39, began her rescue career when she took a class in first aid to assist her 18-year-old son Zack and, from that first class, she has become a certified paramedic and has been an EMT with the Bladenboro Rescue Squad since 2001. She has been employed with Bladen County EMS since 2004, serving in various roles including operations officer, supervisor and training officer. 

Kinlaw and his wife Kerry Ann reside in Elizabethtown with her children, Laura Ashley and Alyissa. He is the son of Ann and Gordon Kinlaw Jr. and the grandson of Eunice Kinlaw and the late Gordon Kinlaw Sr. His paternal grandfather, Gordon Sr,, was Bladen County coroner for several years. His maternal grandparents are McCree and Harry Alford. Kinlaw’s grandfather, Alford, is a charter member of the Libson Fire Department. 

During Kinlaw’s early years of going with his grandfather to the Libson Fire Department, it became his first contact with what would become a career for Kinlaw.   

He graduated from East Bladen High in 1997 and went on to Southeastern Community College to major in forest management. Kinlaw presently attends The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, where his major is business management. He has certifications as a Level II firefighter, rescue technician, emergency management, fire inspector, EMT, fire marshall and in HazMat.

“This two-way split in the Emergency Management Department will certainly allow us to give more focus to each of our responsibilities, to serve Bladen County,” Kinlaw siad.

Green and her husband, Everette, live in the Dublin area with their sons Zack, 18, and Wesley, 19. She is the daughter of Mary Todd and the late Memory Todd of Bladenboro. 

Her son Zack suffers from Downs Syndrome and, with his special needs, it has brought her to the level of patient care she now gives to each of her patients. 

She is a certified paramedic and in advanced cardiac life support, trauma life support and pediatric advanced life support. She has worked her way up in the rescue field to EMS operations officer, supervisor and now director. 

“This group of EMTs and EMT paramedics has really come together to provide good patient care in the last few months,” she said. “We always provide the Bladen County folks with the best patient care possible.”