MOULTRIE, Ga. — The City of Moultrie announced on Facebook Wednesday afternoon that it has hired three new firefighters to the Moultrie Fire Department.

Laron Whitlock, Laroy Whitlock and Daniel Morrison will be joining the MFD on May 17. Laron Whitlock and Laroy Whitlock are twin brothers and Morrison has been in the industry for the last 17 years. 

This comes just days after the announcement that former interim Fire Chief Chad Kilgore will be taking the mantle of fire chief permanently. His first act as fire chief was to hire Assistant Fire Chief Tyshon Reed out of Valdosta.

The Whitlock brothers have come at a time when diversity has been a key issue in the MFD. They and Reed are Black.

“A year ago they said that diversity is difficult when it comes to a fire department,” said City Manager Pete Dillard during Kilgore’s introduction at the Moultrie City Council meeting Tuesday night. “Since Kilgore has taken over we have almost 20 percent of our firefighters are minorities.”

Since August, the MFD has hired two women and three Black men as firefighters.